Finding Each Other
by NebulaWrites
Summary: Team Sarutobi are on a mission, during their break they're suddenly attacked. When Orochimaru can't run Jiraiya helps him despite Orochimaru's objections. Can Jiraiya keep both himself and his teammate safe after Orochimaru falls and breaks his leg? T for language and fights. JirOro/Jiraiya x Orochimaru
1. The Attack

_**heeeeey~ XD long time no nothing on my fanfics, I know and I'm sorry ;^; I lost and have recently found my USB drive for my fanfictions so expect updates on 'The Armor and the Cat' and the one with the sea creature Greed XD *totally forgot the name of it* lol but yeah, I've recently started watching Naruto and my favorite characters are totally Jiraiya, Orochimaru, Kakashi and Gaara :3**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the idea for this fanfiction.**_

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Jiraiya stared up at the sky, his expression blank from his boredom and he looked to his left so he could see the others in his team. Sarutobi-sensei was talking with their 'cargo' while Tsunade slept and Orochimaru read something. The white haired genin frowned, unable to tell what his teammate was reading so he dropped from the tree he was in to walk over and look at the book.

"What are you doing?" Orochimaru asked, his voice pretty much emotionless like always. "Trying to figure out what you're reading." He replied before looking at the snake summoner in irritation when he closed the book and all he was greeted with was cold golden snake eyes. "Since when are you interested in what I do?" he hissed and Jiraiya shrugged. "Since I'm bored."

Orochimaru stared at the other genin in confusion for a second before he simply stood, putting his book away. "Well-." He broke off with a hiss and the white haired genin stared at the other's arm in shock, the black haired genin ripped the kunai from his arm before gasping in pain as more hit him in the back. "It's an attack!" Sarutobi shouted and just before either genin could react, Orochimaru was sent flying across the little clearing, a cry escaping his pale lips as he hit a tree, the force making the kunai in his back dig in deeper.

Tsunade jumped into wakefulness and instantly defended herself as a ninja leaped at her from the trees, Sarutobi was protecting the man they were escorting while Jiraiya ran to help Orochimaru. The snake summoner jerked his arm away from Jiraiya when he was touched. "I don't need your help!" he hissed, his eyes narrowed in irritation and pain.

"Split up and run!" Sarutobi ordered before he and Tsunade disappeared into the trees, the body of their cargo lay dead in the clearing, Orochimaru tried to move but he just collapsed. Jiraiya, who'd just barely started running, looked back and saw Orochimaru, not wanting to leave the other for dead, he ran back and picked the snake summoner up on his back, giving the obviously hurt other a piggy back ride. "What are you doing idiot?! You can't carry me, we'll both be caught and killed!" the black haired genin cried, trying to pull himself from Jiraiya's hold as the other genin plowed effortlessly through the trees.

It took him a second to realize the other had spoken and when he did he simply glanced over his shoulder, glaring at the other. "And what, leave you for them to slaughter? Hell no!" he snapped, realizing they were being followed when he heard a branch snap behind them, Orochimaru glared at the white haired genin before looking behind them. "Ack-!" Jiraiya choked as the other wrapped one arm around his neck before he blinked when he heard the snap to the snake summoner's weapon pack open.

"Steady off, I need a clear shot and with you zigzagging like this I won't hit them."

He quickly followed the black haired genin's order and steadied, now running in a straight line and it wasn't long until a shout sounded from behind them. "There's a cave, we might be able to lose them in there." Orochimaru said, pointing to the object of his meaning and Jiraiya jumped to the forest floor, slipping when he first entered the cave and falling to his rear though being sure to make sure Orochimaru wasn't hurt. Unable to stop their sliding, the white haired genin bit back a yelp as they dropped suddenly into a deep pool of water, reflexively he let go of the snake summoner and helped him to the surface of the water.

Orochimaru grabbed Jiraiya's arm and tugged him to the wall of the pool, hiding under the little ledge that was there, soon footsteps echoed in the cave and they stopped just above the two genin. The white haired genin was deadly silent, hardly daring to breathe while the black haired genin was finding it increasingly difficult to even stay conscious let alone quiet and afloat. Eventually he felt Jiraiya pull him to an area where they could climb out, determined not to seem weak in front of the other the snake summoner muttered a quiet 'you go first'.

He didn't question the other telling him to go first, simply passing it off as nothing out of the ordinary, and he carefully climbed up the slippery rocks but he did check to see if it was safe or not. The white haired genin turned around to tell Orochimaru it was safe but he didn't manage more than a gasp as he saw his teammate slip and fall, a sickening 'snap' and cry of pain echoed around the cave and Jiraiya slid back down to help the other. "Your leg, is it-..?" Jiraiya felt slightly sick as Orochimaru looked at him with tears in his eyes, _nothing_ got the pale genin to cry.

"A-ah! Shit, Orochi, I-I'll get you out of here!" he stammered, picking up the smaller genin bridal style and flinching when his teammate whimpered in pain. "D-don't call me 'Orochi'." The snake summoner managed to say between his shivering and it was then that Jiraiya remembered their first mission.

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 _"Sarutobi-sensei! There's something wrong with Orochimaru!" Jiraiya shouted catching the black haired genin as he suddenly collapsed, he had always been rather cool to the touch but now he felt absolutely freezing. Sarutobi and Tsunade whipped around and ran over quickly, Tsunade motioned for the white haired genin to lay Orochimaru down on the ground. Following the silent order, he laid the snake summoner on the ground, propping the other's head up on his backpack, the pale genin was shivering beyond control and his breathing was shallow._

 _"Orochimaru, can you hear me? What's the matter?" Tsunade asked calmly, her voice wavering only once when their teammate's breathing started to grow steadily shallower. "C-cold…" he managed to stammer, Jiraiya heard this and quickly took off his coat to wrap around the smaller genin before he stood up in a flash. "We need a fire!" he exclaimed before jumping into a tree, the sound of someone else doing the same thing reassured him quite a bit, he gathered as many sticks as he could carry before hurrying back._

 _Tsunade had done the same thing with her coat as Jiraiya did and she was trying to keep the now unconscious Orochimaru warm by holding him close to her. The white haired genin ran over and started building the fire, worry beginning to make him panic, he and the snake summoner hadn't really gotten along but they were still friends and he didn't want his friend to freeze to death. "Jiraiya, move out of the way!" Sarutobi ordered and Jiraiya moved out of the way just in time to avoid being set on fire, their sensei dropped to the ground next to the fire and put down the sticks he had._

 _He kneeled down to look at Orochimaru before carefully picking him up and moving him closer to the warmth of the fire, taking off Jiraiya's and Tsunade's coats to hand them back before taking off his own thicker coat and putting that on Orochimaru. "Sensei, you-." "I'll be fine, I'm more accustomed to the cold than you three." Sarutobi cut Tsunade off with a kind smile, his touch visibly gentler than normal as he carefully positioned Jiraiya's backpack below Orochimaru's head like a pillow._

 _The two light haired genin looked at each other, their worry about their teammate temporarily making them closer, deciding that the snake summoner would warm up faster with people to block the cold and share body heat with. Jiraiya motioned Tsunade to follow him as he moved closer to Orochimaru, moving his backpack only to replace it with his legs, the white haired genin gently rested the pale genin's head on his lap before watching as Tsunade laid down next to him, her head resting against Jiraiya's side. Sarutobi sat next to Orochimaru's feet and looked at his students, he felt touched to see that the two were willing to stick by the snake summoner's side while he recovered._

 _About an hour passed until the black haired genin stirred, the first thing he noticed was the warmth to his right and he tilted his head towards it to see what it was. A fire? "Orochimaru, are you alright?"Jiraiya's familiar voice asked and Orochimaru looked to his left and stared up at the other genin. "What happened?" He asked, slowly sitting up with the aid of his teammate and he realised that Tsunade was asleep next to him while Sarutobi was asleep near his feet, leaning against a tree with his coat draped over him like a blanket._

 _"You passed out, Sarutobi-sensei and I built a fire to warm you up, he put you in his coat but I put it over him when he fell asleep. Tsunade's been sleeping next to you for nearly half an hour now, I've been doing my best to stay awake, I've fallen asleep for a few minutes occasionally though."_

 _The snake summoner didn't know what to say, he'd never had anyone worried about him since his parents died. "So, what happened, why did you suddenly do that?" Jiraiya questioned and Orochimaru looked at him. "I'm not able to handle the cold as well as others." He admitted softly._

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"Second thought, I'll be right back." Jiraiya said, putting Orochimaru down on a flat area before running to go gather some sticks. First priority was getting the snake summoner warmed up and his wounds dealt with, in a matter of minutes he'd gathered all the sticks he could carry and made his way back. Much to his dismay, his teammate was unconscious when he got back, the white haired genin wasted no time with making the fire and lighting it.

"Please tell me you brought extra clothes." He mumbled, opening the other's backpack and searching through it, a relieved sigh leaving him as he found some surprisingly dry clothes in the exact middle of the bag. He was about to start undressing the other when he heard footsteps walking through the cave in his direction, fear began to build in his chest when they didn't slow. The white haired genin slowly pulled a kunai from his weapon pouch and stood in front of the unconscious genin protectively.

He wasn't going to let anyone near Orochimaru.

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 ** _e,e yeah… XD I need a life! Lol review for more! Thanks for reading!_**


	2. The Visitors

_**Oh my goodness, reviews already! I'm so happy! I was planning something a bit more…violent…for this chapter originally but changed my mind ^^; ehehehe…lol**_

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It felt like time slowed drastically as he waited for the person to walk around the corner, Jiraiya wondered who it could be. Was it someone he knew and could trust or was it the ones who'd been chasing the two male genin? The white haired genin stole a worried glance at Orochimaru, if this person meant to do them harm they'd probably go for the snake summoner first.

Could he come up with a plan to hide Orochimaru quickly enough so that the person didn't know that the black haired genin was there? No, he was terrible at making plans overall that didn't consist of spying on women in the baths. His gaze snapped back to their original focus when the sound of a cough came from the direction of the person.

Jiraiya wished himself luck as a person stepped around the corner and he stopped himself just before he could attack. A girl stared at the two genin with wide eyes and the visibly elder boy holding her quickly took a step back. "Wait, the one by the fire is hurt!" the girl gasped and the boy holding her looked at the white haired genin suspiciously.

"What happened to the chick?" he asked and Jiraiya blinked a couple times in confusion. "Oh, you mean Orochi! We were tra-." "Don't tell them a thing..!" Orochimaru coughed, cutting Jiraiya off and the white haired genin whipped around, his relief clear. "You're okay! You scared me shitless, idiot! Do you know how much trouble I'd be in if Sarutobi-sensei found out about what's happened to you?!" the snake summoner glared at his teammate and Jiraiya remembered that the other was probably in a lot of pain.

"Just-! Help me up, Jiraiya, we need to head back to Kohona." The black haired genin hissed and Jiraiya frowned. "You're hurt, you'll never make it back home alive. We should try to bind the wounds you've got and warm you up before we try anything." He said, crouching down next to his teammate to gently put his hand on Orochimaru's shoulder to stop him from trying to get up. "May I have a look..?" the girl asked and the snake summoner looked at her quickly, his distrust of people clear in his golden gaze.

The white haired genin looked from the smaller genin to the boy and girl standing a little ways away. "Jiraiya, no, we can't trust them for all we know they're in the village where those ninja came from!" Orochimaru hissed when Jiraiya stood, the white haired genin glared down at him sternly before smiling at the two. "No thank you, I can treat Orochi myself, thank you for the offer though." He said with a slight bow before he settled down next to his teammate again and motioning for the other to turn around as the boy and girl left.

Orochimaru hissed slightly as he moved his leg but he turned around regardless and Jiraiya gently began pulling the kunai from the other's back. Whenever the smaller genin made a sound it would cause the white haired genin to jump in surprise though no matter what he wouldn't let the kunai touch Orochimaru again. "What am I going to do with your leg, it's clearly broken." He asked and the pale genin shrugged, flinching as he felt the other remove the final kunai. "Make a splint?"

Jiraiya paused for a second to think before he carefully tugged at the other genin's shirt, gently pulling it off. "I'd need something to tie it together, wouldn't I?" he asked and the snake summoner nodded, looking over his shoulder irritably at the shirt. "I doubt I would be able to salvage that…you can tear it up to make the splint." He said and the white haired genin nodded, grabbing the first aid pack so he could tend to the other.

"Do we have any idea where Tsunade and Sarutobi-sensei went?" the black haired genin asked and Jiraiya thought, hadn't Tsunade gone northeast from where they'd been? "I think Tsunade went northeast from that clearing, we went south and Sarutobi-sensei went west. We could try getting back to that clearing then trying to track one of them from there." He said, steadily disinfecting the other's wounds while Orochimaru nodded slowly. "That might be the best thing to do." He said and Jiraiya carefully grabbed the snake summoner's wrists to guide his arms up.

"So," he said, wrapping the gauze around Orochimaru's back. "Does it exactly matter if who we go after?"

The pale genin thought for a second before looking around as though he'd heard something. "I think it might be better to find Tsunade first. You're definitely not the best at medical procedures so it should be top priority to find her so she can at the least stop the bleeding from my back and arm as well as heal my leg to the point of where I can walk." He said and the white haired genin would've been offended at the clear jab at his lack of ability at anything dealing with wounds but he just nodded. "Point made. So we head north back to the clearing then northeast." He said as he carefully wrapped more gauze around his teammate's arm to staunch the bleeding from the wound there.

"Did you find the extra clothes I packed?"

Jiraiya looked up at Orochimaru and nodded, moving the other's clothes closer to him. "They're completely dry." He said and the snake summoner took the shirt and put it on before motioning towards the white haired genin's backpack. "I took your bag just before we left and put some clothes in there for you too just in case." He mumbled and Jiraiya wasn't sure if he should be upset about the fact that the other took his backpack or relieved that he didn't have to stay in his wet clothes.

"Do you need any help?" he asked and Orochimaru looked at him irritably before shaking his head and waving his hand slightly. "I'll be fine, you go get out of those clothes, you'll freeze if you don't." the snake summoner said and the white haired genin left saying that he'd be back soon, Orochimaru rolled his eyes and carefully changed into the dry pants and put on the socks. Jiraiya came back and sat down next to the pale genin. "Let's make that splint, then I'll go get some more sticks to keep the fire going."

Orochimaru looked at his teammate, his golden gaze questioning. "Why don't we leave to go find them right after we make my splint?" he asked as Jiraiya carefully tore the shirt into even pieces. "It's getting dark, I didn't notice how late it actually was when we were in the clearing. We'll go first thing in the morning because trying to navigate at night in a place we have next to no knowledge about could end up in us getting lost and dying out here." He explained before gently nudging the smaller genin, who looked up irritably.

"Where's the break?" he asked and the snake summoner carefully folded his unharmed leg so that he could sit up a bit straighter. "This leg?" Jiraiya asked and Orochimaru nodded before yelping as the other suddenly touched his leg, causing a flare of pain to shoot up his entire leg. "Right there, okay." The white haired genin muttered to himself as he slid the two pieces of fabric under the smaller genin's leg.

Orochimaru watched with a blank expression as Jiraiya placed two sticks roughly the same length next to his calf. "Just so you know I don't want you complaining every two seconds about something." The snake summoner said, flinching as the fabric was tied tightly around his broken leg to support the bone. "I'll keep that in mind." The white haired genin said as he ever so slightly moved the position of the sticks.

The two fell silent when Jiraiya settled down with a promise that he'd go out in a minute. The two genin stared at the fire and didn't bother trying to make any type of conversation; they never had things to talk about even in situations like their current one. "I'll get some more sticks, stay quiet until I come back and if someone finds you my advice is attack if they're a ninja we don't know." His teammate said as he stood and the snake summoner nodded, pulling a kunai out of his weapon pack as the white haired genin left.

'He'll most likely start saying that he's hungry when he gets back…' Orochimaru sighed and grabbed his backpack, opening it silently and rummaging around in it. He put some food next to him before shutting the brown bag, but not before grabbing a hair tie so he could bind his hair back out of his face. The pale genin then opened the food and glanced up when he heard footsteps.

"You have food?" Jiraiya asked in his obvious surprise as he settled next to his wounded teammate. "It never hurts to bring food just in case." The black haired genin replied quietly as he handed the other some of the food. "It's not much but I'll be able to find some things to eat in the daylight, we'll just have to work with this for now." Jiraiya took the food and thanked his teammate eagerly, even accompanying the words with a wide goofy grin.

Muttering a soft 'don't mention it', Orochimaru began to eat his food, trying to ignore the growing unease he felt. They would be risking a lot by going out in the morning overall by themselves but to make matters worse there was hostile ninja somewhere out there as well. "Jiraiya…" the snake summoner's voice was quiet but it was enough to make Jiraiya look over at him. "…What if we're found by those ninja during the night, they'll most certainly kill us."

Jiraiya looked up at the cave ceiling silently for a second before he looked at his teammate. "Well, it's kinda tricky finding your way here even with the fire. Also, who'd ever think that two genin are trying to stay hidden in such a cold place?" Orochimaru was angry with himself for feeling reassured by the other's words. "They'd most certainly think that two genin would choose the easiest place to hide, they'd eventually check in here at some point and if that point ends up being while we're asleep…" black eyes shone with understanding at this and the other genin tilted his head to the side in clear concern.

"Are you really that scared of dying that you automatically assume the worst might happen?" he asked and the snake summoner frowned. "I don't automatically assume the worst might happen, it's better to prepare for the worst and hope for the best." He retorted, some of his old attitude sparking up which reassured the white haired genin a bit. "Of course you'd think that like." He laughed and Orochimaru rolled his eyes, finishing the last of his food before carefully sliding into a laying position.

"Finish eating and go to sleep." The snake summoner said and Jiraiya chuckled softly. "Yeah yeah, I will." With that being said he continued eating and when he finished he glanced over at Orochimaru, who'd fallen asleep already. The white haired genin laid down close to his teammate, not too close but close enough to share his body heat with the snake like genin. "Good night, Orochi."

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 _ **Okay, so yeah xP a small little peek at Orochi's nyctophobia, which is fear of the dark/night basically so yeah :v I have this theory that since his parents died no one was there to comfort him at night so he developed nyctophobia :3 anyways, reviews are love and motivation for me to continue! :D have a nice day/night :3**_


	3. Nightmares and Worries

**_Because I got two reviews on the first chapter I decided to get the third chapter out asap! XD I might try to explain more about Orochi's nyctophobia but I might not get to it because I might forget :v I've got a bad memory lol_**

 ** _Oh, and italics are flashbacks/dreams unless they're put between 'these marks' lol don't judge me, I don't know what they're called I forgot and if they're there like that it's thoughts_**

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 _Orochimaru happily made his way home, his long hair streaming out behind him. "I'm home!" he called cheerfully as he slipped off his shoes before running in the direction of the lounge, which he knew his parents always sat. "You won't believe how beautiful this snake was I found, I found a couple of snakes on the way home today, one was a light cream color with purple eyes, honestly the most gorgeous snake I've seen!" he chirped, going over to his snake tank to feed his pet, the black serpent hissed and looked up at him with her bright green eyes, clearly wanting out of the confines of the glass. "How did everything go, were any of you scolded for anything?"_

" _Jiraiya got scolded again today, he honestly needs to focus more on training than staring at Tsunade's breasts, she's going to kill him one of these days." The pale genin said, allowing his pet to slide her way up his arm and curl loosely around his neck. "I would like some tea, how about you two?" he turned to his parents with a kind smile and his mother looked up at him from her book, a smile that almost was a reflection of Orochimaru's own. "Tea sounds nice dear, do you need help making it?" she asked and the genin shook his head, closing the lid to the tank. "I can manage, do you mind if I carry Reimei around with me though?"_

 _His mother shook her head, her smile still present. "No, carry her around she's been in her tank the whole day you've been gone." She said and Orochimaru thanked her before going into the kitchen, he let his snake down onto the counter and he started to prepare the tea. As he waited for the water to warm up though, he couldn't help but feel like something was wrong, this didn't feel right for some reason…_

 _Orochimaru looked over as Reimei hissed suddenly, he met her intense green gaze with his own golden. "Something the matter?" he asked the serpent, gently using a finger to stroke her smooth back. "Orochimaru, someone is at the door for you!" at his mother's voice the snake summoner picked Reimei up, knowing better than to leave her laying on the kitchen counter._

" _Yes, who is it?" the genin asked as he walked up to the door, which was wide open. Suddenly it went from a bright clear afternoon to a dark cold dusk and the genin was left staring after his parents as they left the confines of their yard. The genin shifted uncomfortably and closed the door to block the chill, wondering what was going on._

 _He turned around about to head back into the kitchen, how hadn't he realized how much time had passed? Also, why were his parents leaving? It was too late to go to the store and they weren't shinobi anymore so it wasn't like they were leaving for a mission._

 _A knock sounded at the door and Orochimaru turned around, opening the door slowly before screaming in shock at the sight that was there. His parents' mangled bodies lay on the porch, bleeding out. "M-mother, F-father!" he cried, opening the door fully and collapsing next to the bodies, tears stinging his eyes._

 _"Good lord, he's killed his parents!" a voice shouted and Orochimaru looked up with wide horrified eyes. "Help them!" he begged the crowd standing a few feet away, he could see several medical ninja in the crowd. "Please, I don't know what happened, help them!" he wailed, his tears streaming down his face before he scrambled backwards in fear when a ninja ran at him, clearly about to attack._

Orochimaru jerked awake and sat up quickly in fear when he was met by the pitch-black area around him. "Orochi..?" Jiraiya's voice yawned and the snake summoner heard someone shift to his left. "The fire went out…" the white haired genin muttered and the snake summoner nodded before realizing that the other wouldn't be able to see the movement. "Yeah…"

Suddenly an arm was wrapped around his waist and Jiraiya pulled him back down into a laying position against his chest. "It's too cold for you." He said, resting his head on the black haired genin's shoulder and falling asleep quickly. Orochimaru stared at the ever so barely visible form of his teammate before he just decided it wasn't worth the pain of trying to get out of the other's hold and he went to sleep.

OxOxOxOxOxO

Tsunade looked around in confusion, she didn't know where she'd ended up running to but now it was way beyond dark and she could hardly see a thing. The blonde sighed and looked around before deciding she should try to get some sleep. She was about to lay down when she heard a branch snap, looking up quickly she could only sigh in relief when she saw Sarutobi.

"Sensei!" she gasped and Sarutobi seemed to relax when he saw her. "Tsunade, do you know where the other two are?" he asked and Tsunade shook her head, worry obvious in her expression. "Orochimaru was hurt, do you think Jiraiya helped him?" the brown haired man shrugged, looking around before sighing.

"Let's get some sleep, we can look for them when there's light."

Tsunade nodded and laid down, watching as Sarutobi sat down not too far away from her. "You just get some rest, I'll make sure no one attacks during the night." He reassured and the blonde nodded once more before closing her eyes. Before she fell asleep though one last fleeting thought entered her mind, if Jiraiya did help Orochimaru…did he bind the pale genin's wounds?

OxOxOxOxOxO

The feeling of whatever was so warm next to him leave woke the snake summoner and he sat up slowly. "You don't have to get up, Orochimaru." Jiraiya said and the pale genin rubbed his eyes slightly. "It's too cold to sleep…" he mumbled before watching as his teammate suddenly lit a new fire before smiling at the obviously tired smaller genin.

"Sleep a little bit more, I'm going to go check around the area, make sure it's safe." He said and Orochimaru laid back down after a second. "Be careful." He whispered before closing his eyes, the white haired genin smiled slightly and carefully made his way out of the cave. When he stepped outside he was met by the chill of the early morning and he shivered slightly before beginning to look around.

When he didn't find anyone in the area he went back to the cave and sat down next to the still sleeping Orochimaru. It took about ten more minutes before the snake summoner woke up again and this time he insisted that they got moving. "Alright, no need to freak out." Jiraiya said, carefully picking up the other before standing and walking in the direction of the entrance to the cave, but not before he put out the fire and grabbed their bags.

OxOxOxOxOxO

Tsunade woke to the gentle shake from Sarutobi and she sat up, yawning quietly before looking at him sleepily. "Let's start looking for Orochimaru and Jiraiya." The man said and the blonde stood up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes before forcing herself to nod and follow him when he started walking away. "Sensei, what if we can't find them?" she asked and Sarutobi looked at her, his eyes somewhat emotionless.

"If we can't find them then I'm afraid we'll just have to go back to Kohona and then we'll send some ANBU looking for them." He said and Tsunade nodded, hoping they wouldn't have to resort to that because if that's what would end up happening then the others could die. "Let's focus on finding them then." She said and Sarutobi nodded, telling her to pick up the pace as he started running.

OxOxOxOxOxO

"Do you think they were found?" Jiraiya asked suddenly and Orochimaru looked up at him, his confusion obvious for a second. "What? Oh-…I'm not entirely sure." The pale genin admitted and his teammate frowned. "Let's hope their okay." He said and the snake summoner nodded in agreement. "Let's hope."

"We'll be able to find them…right?" Orochimaru asked softly, his eyes staring at nothing and the white haired genin sighed. "Hopefully. If we don't find them soon then we should probably head to Kohona, wait for them there." He replied and the black haired genin sighed, nodding again. "Let's just worry about getting you better first though."

"Yeah…"

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 _ **Okay, so I didn't quite explain Orochi's nyctophobia…oh well I'll be sure to do that though! :D reviews are love as always and thanks for reading!**_


	4. Lunch and Discoveries

_**So I never explained what the 'OxOxOxOxOxO' is lol in case you're wondering it's a switch between views of the two groups :3 anyways here's the next chapter! :D**_

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The first few hours were uneventful to say the least and eventually Jiraiya insisted that they stop to eat. "There's an apple tree there, pick some apples to eat." Orochimaru sighed, rolling his eyes as his teammate set him down on a large rock. "Okay." The white haired genin said before he watched in surprise when suddenly the pale genin threw a kunai into the bushes and a squeak was heard.

He flicked some of his long black hair over his shoulder before looking at Jiraiya nonchalantly. "I catch, you prep, I cook." The snake summoner said as the white haired genin walked over to where the kunai had been thrown and he picked up the rabbit that was there. "Fair enough." He said, deciding to go a little bit away to prep the rabbit.

"Be sure to wash the blood off yourself before you come back." Orochimaru added as he closed his eyes slightly, to Jiraiya he looked like a basking snake enjoying the sun. "Yeah yeah, okay." He rolled his eyes and walked away, glancing back at the other once before he continued to walk. All the while he was prepping the rabbit, he couldn't help but continuously think back to how the other looked.

If he didn't know any better, he would've thought that the other was simply a gorgeous flat chested girl. But he did know better, he also knew if he ever told Orochimaru that then the other would certainly kill him. Plus his teammate wasn't a girl, though he was still gorgeous.

Jiraiya froze at that thought and blinked a couple times in surprise, did he seriously just? "Jiraiya!" the white haired genin jumped in surprise when he heard Orochimaru call for him, confused as to what the other wanted he stood up, the prepared rabbit in his hand. "What is it?" he asked, instantly spotting the problem.

A group of older teenaged boys were surrounding the genin, who looked way too uncomfortable and feminine compared to the ones surrounding him. "Oi, get out of here!" Jiraiya snapped, his anger clear as he stormed over, shoving one of the teens closer to Orochimaru away from the pale genin. "Or what?" one sneered before they all flinched when a feminine voice replied before Jiraiya could. "Or Father will ban you all from leaving the farm."

The group of boys looked at each other before turning around quickly. "No need for that, don't tell him!" one said, moving away from Orochimaru and over to the young girl that Orochimaru could see just barely past Jiraiya. "Yeah, we're going, sorry to bug you." Another said and they all ran off, leaving Jiraiya glaring after them and Orochimaru more than relieved that they were gone.

"Well…" the snake summoner sighed before shaking his head in irritation. "Whatever, did you finish prepping the rabbit?" Jiraiya nodded and the snake summoner sighed again. "Give me the meat and make a fire." Orochimaru said and the white haired genin handed him the meat before beginning to make a fire.

OxOxOxOxOxO

Tsunade fell down onto a log with a long sigh of exhaustion. "Sensei, I can't go on any longer, I need to rest." She complained and Sarutobi stopped, looking around before nodding and leaning back against a tree. "Here." He suddenly said, tossing a snack at the blonde and she caught it eagerly. "Thank you."

Sarutobi nodded before closing his eyes to think, Tsunade ate the snack silently before standing a few minutes later. "Let's get going again." She suggested before they both were off running again. "Did you see which way they even went?" the blonde eventually asked making her teacher look at her. "Knowing Orochimaru he probably would've insisted that they go south. I figure we should find our way back to the clearing where we stopped then start going south from there."

"And that will work?" she asked and Sarutobi shrugged. "Hopefully." He muttered and Tsunade frowned, hopefully didn't sound quite as promising as she would like it to.

OxOxOxOxOxO

"Whew, dang Orochi, didn't know you were such a good cook." Jiraiya whistled, grinning sheepishly at Orochimaru when the snake summoner looked over at him. "All I did was put some herbs on the meat then cooked it, there's no skill needed to do that." The black haired genin scoffed, which got a shrug from his teammate. "I would've burnt it without a doubt, you on the other hand didn't even char it!" he insisted and the pale genin looked away with another scoff, trying to hide the light flush to his face from the other's words.

"Whatever, let's get going now before we're found."

The white haired genin stood up with a sigh and picked his teammate up once again. "You ready?" he asked only continuing to walk when Orochimaru nodded. "From what I remember it didn't take us long to get to the cave, at the very most it'll take us another day to get to the clearing." The snake summoner said and Jiraiya nodded, stealing a quick glance down at the genin in his arms. "Is any of your wounds bugging you?" he finally asked and the smaller genin shrugged. "My leg, but that's inevitable."

"You sure?" he pressed and Orochimaru looked up at him, his golden snake eyes glinting with curiosity. "I'm fine, Jiraiya, why all of this sudden care for my wellbeing?" Jiraiya shrugged, refusing to meet the other's eyes. "I was just asking, I mean I have some pain medication in my backpack so I figured if any of your injuries were causing you troubles then you could take one to ease the pain." He said and his teammate frowned before continuing to look around the area. "Thanks for your concern, but I won't be needing any."

The white haired genin looked down at the snake summoner. "If you need one just ask." He said before beginning to walk quicker, just barely catching the soft 'I said I won't need any' from the smaller genin. From there they remained mainly silent, only sharing a quick word on the off occasion that Orochimaru became unsure if his teammate was heading in the right direction.

OxOxOxOxOxO

"Sensei, look!" Tsunade hissed, pointing towards a group of ninja some of which she clearly remembered to be part of the group that attacked them. Sarutobi glanced at the ninja before motioning for her to continue on. "We don't need any more trouble with them." He whispered as they started a large circle to avoid getting spotted by the group.

"I said Kujo and I chased them into a cave, we saw them slip and we didn't see them in the pool so they must've drowned!" one of the ninja snapped making the two Leaf ninja freeze and look at each other. "And I said that because of your stupidity we're gonna have to go back to absolutely make sure those two are in fact dead!" another shouted back. "Yeah, the boss wanted that one with the pale skin and black hair, we have to make sure that at the very least that one is alive because if not then we're gonna have one hell of a time with appeasing him to make up for your foolishness!" Tsunade looked at Sarutobi, her eyes wide, they'd attacked trying to get Orochimaru?

A new ninja appeared suddenly in the middle of the group. "Two genin were spotted a few kilometers from here in that direction, one with black hair and the other with white. I'm pretty sure that the one with black hair is the one we're after." A calm voice stated and Sarutobi leaned forward slightly, trying to see which way the ninja was pointing. "Let's follow them Sensei, they can lead us right to Orochimaru and Jiraiya!" Tsunade hissed, tugging on her teacher's sleeve when the ninja began discussing who would go in that direction.

"Once we know the general direction that they're going we can run ahead of them and get to the two first." Sarutobi stated, grabbing Tsunade's wrist to pull her along when a group of six ninja ran after the one who'd appeared late. "Keep silent and don't stop whatsoever until we reach Orochimaru and Jiraiya."

OxOxOxOxOxO

A small yawn escaped the small genin in his arms and Jiraiya looked down at his teammate, surprised at the fact such an innocent sound could come from him. "What?" Orochimaru asked, one thin eyebrow quirking in confusion when the white haired genin looked at him. "Are you tired? You could take a nap if you want." The snake summoner shook his head but rested it against Jiraiya's shoulder anyways.

"If I do then you'd only wake me up every few minutes to ask which direction to go next." He said through a yawn and the white haired genin snorted. "That's not true." He objected lightly and the pale genin laughed, as in actually _laughed_ not scornfully but an actual genuine laugh. "We both know it is true." He chided and Jiraiya grinned widely, happy with how the other was clearly amused.

Orochimaru laughed again at his teammate's grin. "Why are you grinning like that?" he asked and the white haired genin's grin dropped to a small content smile. "No reason." He chuckled and the snake summoner giggled slightly. "Yeah, sure."

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 _ **D'awww, Orochi laughed x3 such a cute little nugget, am I right? Lol anyways, reviews are love as always ^_^ see ya in the next chapter!**_


	5. Found and Lost

_**Next chapter x3 nothing really to say besides that :v thanks for all the lovely reviews~ x3**_

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They continued walking until the sun started to set, it was then Orochimaru began complaining about the cold and even moving as close as he could to Jiraiya. "How about we find a place to sleep? We still have some apples and some of the meat from the rabbit so that will take care of food and I can build a fire to keep you warm." The white haired genin eventually asked and the snake summoner nodded, still leaning close against his chest. "Okay…" the smaller genin muttered and Jiraiya looked around before going over to a little overhang that had been formed by stone.

"I'll be right back." Jiraiya said as he set his teammate down under the overhang, Orochimaru watched as the white haired genin took a kunai out from his weapon pack and walked over to a nearby tree. Jiraiya started cutting some branches off the tree, some with leafs and some without, and eventually walked back over to start leaning the longer branches with leafs against the log that was tilted up by the overhang. _'He's using the log to make a shelter, it's impromptu but it works.'_ Orochimaru thought, surprised that his teammate had thought of that before sighing slightly.

He didn't like the fact that the white haired genin was having to do next to everything because he'd broken his leg. The snake summoner frowned and leaned against the stone wall, he wished that he didn't have to rely on Jiraiya so much. "There we go, that'll keep us dry in case it starts raining." Jiraiya said as he sat down next to the smaller genin before making a fire and lighting it to keep them warm.

Orochimaru quietly opened his backpack to pull out the rabbit meat and two apples, dividing the meat evenly between them and gave his teammate one of the apples. They ate in silence and eventually decided to go to sleep, like the previous night Jiraiya wrapped his arm around the snake summoner's waist and fell asleep like that. The pale genin didn't do anything about it and soon fell asleep as well, for once falling asleep feeling safe since his parents died.

OxOxOxOxOxO

"We'll wait out the night, it's nearly impossible to navigate in the dark." One of the ninja said and Tsunade looked at Sarutobi, it was clear they both had the same idea. "Let's keep going." Sarutobi said softly, grabbing a broken, dead branch and using a bit of his ninjutsu to light it on fire once they were a safe distance away from the group of ninja. They continued on at a steady pace and soon faint orange caught Tsunade's eye.

"Sensei." She hissed stopping to look again so she was sure she'd seen it, sure enough there was a slowly dying fire by what looked to be a rather suddenly made shelter. Sarutobi motioned for the blonde to follow him and they made their way towards the shelter. "Jiraiya, the fire's going out…" a tired but familiar voice mumbled and Tsunade wanted to scream in joy as a familiar white haired head poked out of the shelter to put more fuel on the fire.

OxOxOxOxOxO

Jiraiya yawned as he placed more sticks and dry leafs onto the fire before something caught his eye. The white haired genin froze, staring at Sarutobi and Tsunade with wide eyes before he looked back at Orochimaru quickly. The snake summoner was already halfway asleep again and Jiraiya waved at Sarutobi and Tsunade to come over quickly.

"Orochimaru broke his leg and we tried our best to treat his wounds on his arm and back but I'm not too sure we did that well." He said hurriedly and Orochimaru jerked back into wakefulness at his teammate's voice, the pale genin sat up and instantly caught sight of Tsunade as she ducked into the shelter. "Let me take a look." She ordered as she settled behind him and the snake summoner blinked a couple times before taking off his shirt obediently.

"Are you two alright? Has anyone attacked you at all since we got split up?" Sarutobi asked and Jiraiya shook his head. "No, I mean we were followed while we were running but we lost them." The white haired genin replied, watching Tsunade and Orochimaru out of the corners of his eyes. "We found out why they attacked us, they want Orochimaru for some reason." Tsunade commented as she looked at the wounds in the pale genin's back and arm before rewrapping them with some clean gauze from her backpack.

Jiraiya tensed at that, meeting Orochimaru's wide eyes before looking at their teacher and other teammate. "If that's the case, let's throw them off. Orochimaru has nearly mastered the shadow clone jutsu so he could use that and then use the transformation jutsu so you two could get him back to Kohona." He said and the snake summoner hissed suddenly. "And what about you? Would you run off with my shadow clone and put yourself into god knows how much danger?! No, let me think of something!" everyone stared at the pale genin in surprise at his outburst and the white haired genin let out a frustrated sigh.

"We don't-." "We have enough time!" Orochimaru cut Jiraiya off, glaring at him before wincing when Tsunade touched his broken leg. "We all have clone jutsus so if we all send one clone off in a group then it should get the ninja to follow them while we can start heading back to Kohona." The snake summoner finally said and Sarutobi agreed almost instantly but not before praising Jiraiya about his plan. The white haired genin slowly nodded, wondering why the smaller genin had been so adamant on him not putting himself in danger.

Tsunade eventually stood up, well the best she could in the shelter, and stepped out of the shelter. "Let's get going, his leg is broken pretty bad and needs to be looked at by a doctor quickly." She said and Jiraiya picked up Orochimaru after the pale genin had put his shirt back on. "We'll take turns carrying him." Sarutobi told the white haired genin before he began running in the direction Jiraiya assumed was Kohona.

"Let's make the clones." Orochimaru suddenly said, quickly doing a few hand signs and a clone of Jiraiya and the snake summoner appeared in a waft of smoke. Tsunade and Sarutobi quickly did the same and the clones ran off in the direction they'd come from. It didn't take long for them to reach the large river that had added three extra days onto their overall mission.

"You two wait here, I'll take Orochimaru across then come back for you two." Sarutobi said, easily taking Orochimaru from Jiraiya before running out onto the river, he crossed it with ease and set the snake summoner down. The white haired genin shifted next to Tsunade, his worry for the smaller genin beginning to grow when he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Their teacher made his way back across the river and picked up Tsunade. "Wait here, Jiraiya, I'll be back quickly."

Jiraiya nodded once and watched as Tsunade was taken across the river, as Sarutobi made his way back across the river Orochimaru spotted figures jump out of the bushes. In a brief haze of panic, his transformation jutsu dropped and he shouted to be heard over the rushing river. "JIRAIYA BEHIND YOU, LOOK OUT!" his teammate whipped around and leaped backwards as Sarutobi threw kunai at the attacking ninja.

"Orochimaru!" Tsunade gasped as he ran forward, grabbing the pale genin's arm and in turn he turned to face her with wide eyes. "He'll fall in the river! He won't have enough time to realize what's going on before he's swept away!" the snake summoner exclaimed, trying to pull free but the blonde kept a strong hold. "You're leg is broken, you won't be any help to him!" she tried to reason before a snake appeared from nowhere and suddenly hissed at her, its deadly eyes locked onto hers and Orochimaru didn't pay it any attention.

Taking her momentary daze of surprise to his advantage, the pale genin pulled his arm free and quickly darted forward, adrenaline smothering out the pain from his leg. The snake disappeared in a cloud of smoke and Tsunade ran after Orochimaru, shouting for the black haired genin to stop and think about what he was doing. The snake summoner ignored her and ran out onto the river at an angle, calculating where he should be when Jiraiya hit the water.

The white haired genin panicked when he went under the water and was carried down the river a few feet before someone grabbed his arm and pulled him to the surface. Jiraiya gasped when his head broke the surface of the water and he stared at Orochimaru with wide eyes, his teammate had his arm in a vice grip and the look of fear in his eyes confused him. "Are you okay?!" the smaller genin demanded as the white haired genin used his chakra to steady himself atop of the water.

"Yeah, thanks! How did you get out here?!" he called back before quickly wrapped his arms around his teammate to twist their position around so that he was hit by the kunai instead of Orochimaru. "JIRAIYA! OROCHIMARU!" Tsunade screamed when her teammates suddenly both went under the water, Sarutobi stopped his fight to run towards the two genin.

Tsunade ran along the edge of the river, still shouting Orochimaru's and Jiraiya's names in a panic. It didn't take long for the two of them to realize that not only had the attacking ninja disappeared but it was far too dark to search for the two genin. Sarutobi made his way to the river's edge and ordered Tsunade to pick up the pace.

OxOxOxOxOxO

Orochimaru didn't have a chance against the freezing cold water and soon felt his consciousness slowly slipping from him. Jiraiya forced himself to ignore the pain from the kunai and kept a tight hold on his teammate's slim form while he swam to the surface. As soon as the bitterly cold wind hit his face, the white haired genin desperately made sure Orochimaru was breathing. "Orochi?"

When the pale genin didn't reply, Jiraiya made a beeline for the shore and dragged the smaller genin out of the water. "Orochimaru?" he breathed, looking down at his teammate fearing the worst before slightly glazed golden eyes opened. "Where- are we..?" the snake summoner coughed as he sat up, looking around Jiraiya shrugged. "Don't have a clue honestly."

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 _ **Aaaaand they're lost again XD sorry for taking so long with this update, my exams kicked my ass I mean seriously xP XD anyways, reviews are love x3**_


	6. The Cabin

_**I'm back! XD anyways, here's the next chapter, school was being troublesome since it was the final weeks and yeah xP XD anyways I'll let you read the chapter now XD**_

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Orochimaru blinked a couple times at Jiraiya. _'We're lost again..?'_ he thought before he groaned and hid his face in his hands. "What are we going to do?" he all but wailed, feeling completely overwhelmed with what was going on.

Jiraiya jumped in surprise at the other's distraught tone and he moved closer, raising a slightly shivering hand to put it on his teammate's shoulder. "H-hey. First we should make a fire and warm up, then let's worry about what we'll do next." He said gently before standing on unsteady legs and lifting Orochimaru into his arms. "We'll look at your shoulder after you make the fire." The snake summoner mumbled before leaning against the white haired genin's chest, not only seeking to share what little body heat they had but also seeking the comfort he had felt when they had first gone to sleep earlier.

His teammate didn't object to warming up so Jiraiya hoped that the other's momentary breakdown had passed. "Alright, sounds good to me." He said, looking around briefly before beginning to walk in a straight line away from the river. Not more than thirty feet into the forest was an abandoned hunting cabin and Jiraiya instinctively walked towards it.

"Will it be safe?" Orochimaru questioned, looking at the cabin skeptically and Jiraiya sighed. "It will be safe long enough for us to make a fire and warm up. Besides, a storm is moving in and we'll need the shelter to stay dry." He reasoned, opening the door and walking into the dark cabin. First things the two genin spotted were the wardrobe, fireplace, cooking area and bed.

The white haired genin grinned and looked down at his teammate victoriously. "Fine, you win." The snake summoner sighed, frowning as Jiraiya set him down on a chair before moving closer to the fireplace. "It couldn't have been abandoned more than a few months. There's still firewood here." Jiraiya commented, opening a box that sat next to the fireplace, Orochimaru nodded absentmindedly as he looked around the cabin.

"C'mere." His teammate suddenly hummed, picking him up, chair and all, before moving him closer to the warm fire that was now burning in the fireplace. The pale genin sighed blissfully at the warmth of the fire and eventually got off the chair to settle down next to Jiraiya, who had simply sat on the floor. "You warm enough?" the white haired genin mused and the snake summoner shook his head, leaning against the larger genin slightly. "I'm still freezing."

Jiraiya looked down at Orochimaru with a frown. "Oh, alright." He said, wrapping an arm around the other's shivering body to bring him closer. After a while the pale genin stood up, mumbling something about looking at Jiraiya's shoulder.

The white haired genin stood up as well, a little reluctant to leave the fire but he knew Orochimaru would drag him away if he had to. The smaller genin wasted no time in locating the first aid pack in his bag and sat down on the bed, patting the soft mattress to somewhat order the other to sit. Jiraiya fell down onto the bed with a sigh, watching as Orochimaru made quick work of removing the kunai from his shoulder.

A slight tint of color appeared on the snake summoner's cheeks as he aided the white haired genin in taking off the soaked shirt. "Are you blushing?" the larger genin asked after a second and golden eyes instantly looked away from Jiraiya. "You are. Orochi's blushing~." Jiraiya teased and Orochimaru glared at him, making quick work of cleaning and wrapping the other's shoulder.

"I'll see if there's any dry clothes." The pale genin mumbled before walking over to the wardrobe to pull it open, sure enough there was plenty of clothes and he grabbed some that would fit Jiraiya. "Here." He tossed the clothes at the white haired genin before he grabbed some clothes for himself. "It's raining." Jiraiya said, staring out the dusty window, Orochimaru mumbled a quick 'oh?' as he took off his own wet shirt, his back to the other genin.

The white haired genin was quiet for a minute. "Yeah, it's coming down hard." His teammate stated and the smaller genin didn't reply until he'd completely changed. "Oh well, it's not like we can control the weather." The snake summoner said and Jiraiya made a noise of agreement.

OxOxOxOxOxO

"Sensei, where could they be?! What if they've drowned?!" Tsunade wailed, keeping pace with her clearly panicking teacher. "We just have to trust that they haven't." Sarutobi replied hastily before he lost his footing, slipping on the rain soaked bark of the tree. The blonde gasped as she watched her teacher fall and she didn't waste any time to jump down next to him. "Are you okay?!"

Sarutobi nodded once, getting up and looking around as the storm steadily got worse. "I'm fine." He mumbled, suddenly running forward and grabbing something off a bush. "It's part of Orochimaru's shirt, they must be near!" he exclaimed and Tsunade quickly followed after him when he ran further away from the river.

OxOxOxOxOxO

Orochimaru and Jiraiya had long since returned to the fire, the smaller genin even went so far as to take the blanket from the bed with him. "Do you think there's any food here that would still be good?" the white haired genin asked suddenly and golden eyes looked from the fire to meet the dark eyes of his teammate. "Possibly." He replied and Jiraiya stood up before stretching.

"I'm gonna check." He said and the snake summoner turned to the fire again, watching the flickering flames silently. It took maybe four or five minutes for Jiraiya to once again join him, though he was carrying some crackers. "It's better than nothing." He grinned and the pale genin reached out to take a few of the crackers.

They ate the crackers in silence before Jiraiya yawned loudly and started insisting that they go to bed. "If it'll make you shut up, fine." Orochimaru sighed, standing up and walking over to the bed, where the white haired genin already was laying. He put the blanket down before smothering the fire and heading back to the bed in a hurry.

"Hopefully the storm will be over by the time it's morning so we can try and make our way back to Kohona." His teammate commented as the smaller genin laid down beside him, covering them with the blanket as he did. "If it isn't we can wait it out here." The snake summoner muttered, sighing slightly as Jiraiya draped his arm over Orochimaru's waist before falling asleep quickly.

When morning arrived it took Orochimaru a second to realize that the storm had only gotten worse during the night. "It only got worse." Jiraiya mumbled sleepily and the snake summoner sighed before closing his eyes again. "We might as well sleep some more." He stated and they went back to sleep.

OxOxOxOxOxO

Tsunade stumbled and fell forwards into Sarutobi and the man simply picked her up. They'd been looking the whole night so it was inevitable that the blonde had finally reached her limit. He looked around, frowning before looking down at his student.

"We'll head back to Kohona and send ANBU out to look for them." He told her before starting the journey back to the village. "But what if they're dead..?" Tsunade asked tiredly, fighting to stay awake. "They're not." Sarutobi replied before shushing her and saying that she needed rest.

OxOxOxOxOxO

"Do you think they're looking for us again?" Jiraiya's unexpected question easily stirred the snake summoner into wakefulness and tired golden eyes looked up at his teammate. "Possibly. Though I hope not. It'd be much safer for them to head back to Kohona and send out some ANBU to find us." Orochimaru stated tiredly as he sat up before looking at the white haired genin oddly when he started laughing.

"Your hair is a complete mess!" the larger genin laughed and quickly the pale genin started trying to smooth his hair down as he wondered how it got messy in the first place. "Stop laughing, it's not that funny!" he exclaimed as his teammate continued to laugh making the smaller genin begin to feel a bit self-conscious. "I sleep restlessly when it storms and my hair gets messed up because of it, so what?! It's not funny!" he tried again before the other's contagious laughter made him begin laughing as well.

Though it would be quite a bit of a wait for the storm to end it certainly was going to be an interesting one.

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 _ **Finally! I got this chapter done lol you have no idea how busy I was and how badly I wanted to get this posted! XD hopefully I'll get the next chapter out this week, but if I don't my apologies! Reviews are love~**_


	7. Captured

_**Heeeey~ XD I'm back with the next chapter x3 enjoy~ and I swear I'm working on the next chapter for 'The Armor and Cat' I'll get it up soon I promise!**_

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"Sarutobi sensei, have you heard any news about Orochimaru and Jiraiya?" Tsunade asked, coming up behind Sarutobi and looking up at him hopefully. Sarutobi turned around to look at his student before shaking his head. "Not yet." He replied and the blonde sighed heavily. "It's been weeks sensei…"

OxOxOxOxOxO

Jiraiya and Orochimaru were laying out in the field next to the cabin, over the weeks they had started growing closer. Now the pale genin was relaxed, calm and even very vocal about his thoughts, he was even starting to take matters less seriously than he normally would've. The white haired genin couldn't be more relaxed, and it was especially nice since his teammate was listening to everything he was saying.

"Wait, you can summon snakes?" Jiraiya asked in surprise, glancing down at the snake summoner, who was laying by his side with his head on the larger genin's chest. Golden eyes shifted up to look at the white haired genin's face. "More or less, I mean I've yet to gain their respect but I can summon if I wish." He replied and the larger genin whistled slightly in awe.

Orochimaru huffed slightly in amusement before closing his eyes again. "Now what were you saying before I cut you off?" he asked and Jiraiya continued on with what he was saying, it didn't take long for the white haired genin to get distracted again. "Do you realize how easily distracted you are?" the pale genin giggled and dark eyes looked down from the sky to meet the bright golden ones of his teammate.

"I don't get distracted easily." He objected and the snake summoner laughed as he sat up. "Yes you do, you once again got distracted from what you were saying." Orochimaru snickered and Jiraiya sat up quickly, irritation sparkling in his gaze. "I did not!" he huffed before jumping as three figures suddenly were in front of them, since the sun was straight behind said figures out of suspicion Jiraiya pulled Orochimaru away from them.

"Jiraiya and Orochimaru, correct?" one asked and Orochimaru looked at them skeptically. "Who's asking?" he responded tersely and after glancing back at the sun the three stepped a considerable distance to the side. The two genin looked at each other in surprise when they saw the ANBU masks for the first time. "We've been sent to track you down and bring you home by orders of the Hokage."

The white haired genin sighed in relief and stood quickly, a grin plastered on his face, while the snake summoner was more suspicious, these peoples' chakra didn't feel familiar at all. "We'll head to Kohona by ourselves, just point us in the proper direction and we'll be there at most in a day's time." He stated, instantly catching the uncomfortable stiffen of the others' muscles and golden eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.

"Well, what direction is the village?" he hissed, ignoring Jiraiya completely as his teammate began questioning him as to why he was acting like that. When the ANBU gave no reply nor did they point in any direction Orochimaru put the pieces together. "Just come on Orochi, we can go ho-." Jiraiya was cut off as one of the ANBU hit him in the back of the neck, promptly rendering him unconscious. "Jiraiya!"

The other two made quick work of running forward, attempting to grab hold of the snake summoner only to find they grabbed a log. "What?" one cried as they looked around frantically searching for the pale genin. Out of nowhere kunai were thrown at the three still in the clearing, none going even a foot close to the downed genin.

"Find him quick before he gets away or the real ANBU get here!" the clear leader of the group shouted and in a matter of seconds they were bombarded with more kunai and some shuriken as well. "Why does he have this many kunai?!" the female of the group cried as she narrowly dodged several shuriken that had they have hit her she would've surely been dead. "There you are brat!" the final member snarled, throwing his own kunai into the leafs of a tree and a barely audible gasp of pain was heard.

The female and leader rushed towards the tree and out of pure luck the leader managed to catch Orochimaru's ankle as he leaped from the tree trying to escape. The pale genin yelped as he was thrown to the ground and pinned down, he looked around frantically trying to spot Jiraiya in hopes that his teammate was awake by then. He hissed and struggled as his arms were forced behind his back and tied there, honestly a lot tighter than they needed to be tied. "I'll kill you!"

OxOxOxOxOxO

Jiraiya woke to the feeling of being carried and he forced his eyes to open. "He's awake." A voice stated and he looked towards the owner of said voice, he was met with the sight of an ANBU mask and he instantly remembered what happened. "What did you do to Orochimaru?" he snapped, trying to push himself off his carrier's shoulder.

"We have done nothing to Orochimaru." One said and the white haired genin glared at the person, his distrust clear. "I don't believe you! You all were there! Where are you taking me?! Where did you take him?!" he shouted and suddenly a familiar voice reached his ears. "Jiraiya!" Tsunade called and he looked in the direction her voice came from, his blonde teammate was running from the gate to the village.

They were taking him home? "Wait, where's Orochimaru?" Tsunade suddenly stopped and asked when they approached, the white haired genin let his gaze drop. "We found him unconscious in a clearing with kunai and shuriken littering the area around him. Orochimaru was nowhere in sight." The one carrying Jiraiya said and he instantly felt completely useless and stupid.

"We were approached by people with the mask of the Hidden Leaf ANBU and they said they were under the orders of the Hokage to bring us home. Orochimaru didn't trust him and he was right…they attacked me and I passed out…they probably took him."

Tsunade looked at Jiraiya in defeat before she mumbled something about them following her to the hospital. Soon the white haired genin was admitted to the hospital and left alone in his hospital room while Sarutobi and Tsunade spoke to the ANBU outside in the hall. _'I should've instantly trusted Orochimaru's distrust of them. Maybe if I had then he wouldn't be caught…'_ he thought hopelessly before he growled and punched the wall behind him, bruising his hand in the process.

OxOxOxOxOxO

When Orochimaru's blindfold was removed the first thing he noticed was the man he was standing in front of. The man was large and that wasn't meaning height wise, he had graying hair and sickly tanned skin that in the genin's opinion looked like leather. The two guards on either side of him holding his arms tightened their grip painfully when said man rose. Irritated golden eyes flashed to them as he was forced to his knees roughly.

"So she didn't die after all." The man cooed in a sickly sweet tone that made the snake summoner want to vomit. "Remove her gag, I want to hear her speak." The man hummed and when the gag was removed the stubborn snake refused to speak. "Don't be afraid of me, my golden eyed lovely, I will not harm you." He clearly assumed that the genin was frightened but little did he know that was not the case.

The guard on Orochimaru's left kicked him in the ribs harshly. "Speak when your master tells you to." He barked and when the snake summoner was kicked again an agitated hiss resonated from the small genin. "Do not harm her, it's impossible to get proper help nowadays." The man scolded the guard and Orochimaru scoffed under his breath in anger.

"Tell me your name, lovely." This man was seriously getting on the genin's nerves. "It's simply civil to tell me your name." he tried again and when the snake summoner still didn't speak he looked at the guards with an upset frown. "Take her to her room, maybe she'll feel more like talking at lunch." He sighed and the pale genin hissed as he was dragged roughly out of the room.

The guards remained silent as they forced him down a long hallway, the décor of the area was just overall tacky and horribly picked out. And his 'room' was no better, the color choice of everything clashed and honestly hurt his eyes. Orochimaru stepped into the room and sighed when the door was closed loudly behind him.

This wasn't going to be good.

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 _ **I'M SO PROUD OF MYSELF FOR GETTING THIS CHAPTER UP THE SAME WEEK AS THE LAST ONE VNJOPAFJKDLAFR YAAAAS! XD anyways reviews are love and I'll try to get the next chapter out next week x3c**_


	8. Akio and Akihiko

_**New chapter x3c yaaaay~ lol nothing to say besides that o3o**_

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"What did you do to your hand?!" Jiraiya's mother cried as she rushed forward, grabbing the white haired genin's hand to examine the bruise. "Jiraiya, did you hit something? That certainly wasn't there before!" Tsunade scolded, storming over to look at her teammate's hand before flinching as Jiraiya ripped his arm out of both her and his mother's holds. "Stop it dammit!" he spat, kicking his legs out from under the blanket and swinging them off the edge of the bed so he could stand.

Jiraiya's mother stared at her son in surprise before she frowned. "Don't swear, who taught you to say that?" she chastised and the genin threw a glare over his shoulder at her. "Jiraiya, what's gotten into you?" Sarutobi asked and the white haired genin suddenly began throwing things around the room.

Vases, blankets, pillows. You name it if it was in the room he threw it and after the room was a total disaster area, he punched the wall until his fist began bleeding. "I couldn't help him. He got caught because of me." Jiraiya hissed, dropping to his knees and grabbing his hair in his hands. "I feel as useless as shit! He was trusting me to take care of him until either we were found or if we found out which direction Kohona was in!"

"I let him down." The white haired genin's shoulders sagged and Sarutobi walked over to his student, crouching next to the clearly frustrated boy. "It's not your fault. We'll find him, Jiraiya, we've got the best ninja hounds on the job as we speak." He soothed, placing his hand on Jiraiya's back before standing up. "C'mon, you, Tsunade and I are going to take ninja hounds out and look ourselves as well." Jiraiya looked up quickly before standing in a flash, grabbing his shoes and putting them on.

Tsunade looked at her teammate oddly, a frown still on her face. "You're gonna go out in hospital pajamas?" she asked and the white haired genin gave her a slight glare. "We don't have enough time for me to change, let's go!" he exclaimed, snatching a roll of gauze before running out of the room with a quick shout of 'I'll meet you at the gate!' as he left.

Sarutobi looked at the blonde before they both shrugged and ran after Jiraiya, catching up to him with ease. "The ninja hound we're taking is at the gate, we'll get it and make our way to the place you two were then follow Orochimaru's scent from there." Sarutobi stated and the two genin nodded. _'Hang in there Orochi, we're coming to get you.'_ Jiraiya thought, determination to find his friend making him run faster.

OxOxOxOxOxO

Orochimaru checked the window, brushing the curtains away from the glass so he could try to open it. Luckily it did open but only enough to possibly slip a book through. The snake summoner frowned and closed it again quickly when he heard the door unlock, after turning around he scowled as the man from before entered the room.

"Oh don't look like that, my lovely, I'm not here to pester you." The man hummed, placing some clothes on the bed as what seemed to be two maids walked in after him. "Certainly seems like it…" the genin muttered to himself as he sat down in the windowsill, glaring at the maids as they walked closer to him. "You'll be going with them to get cleaned up, you're absolutely filthy." The man chuckled and the pale genin reared his head back in an offended manor. "Well excuse me for being lost for three weeks thanks to you and your goons."

The maids giggled at the outburst and the man stared at Orochimaru in surprise before his face lit up happily. "So you finally spoke to me, I'm glad. My name is Akio, what is your name?" Akio grinned and the golden-eyed genin simply glared back out the window, crossing his arms over his chest. "More silent treatment?" he sighed before waving his hand, motioning for the maids to walk over to the genin as he left the room. "Bring her along."

Golden eyes turned upwards and he sighed heavily, this man clearly wasn't able to tell his gender. The maids stepped on either side of him and Orochimaru stood, not in the mood for being dragged around. When the two women began walking he followed suit, letting his arms drop to his sides.

"Is there anything you would prefer us to call you?" the woman on his right asked, smiling at him kindly and he shrugged. "Orochimaru is my name." he mumbled and she smiled again. "May I call you Oro-chan?" the genin nodded once and froze when he saw Akio turn around. "You two know what to do. I'll go find my son, I'm sure he'll be pleased with this one."

' _Wait, son? I swear if this man kidnapped me solely for attempting to get his son married I will kill them all.'_

The snake summoner frowned and followed the maids into the room, grumbling under his breath that he could bathe himself. "If that's what you want to do then that's fine with us. We just need to be in the room." The maid who was on the left stated and the one on the right gasped, turning around with a quick call over her shoulder that they forgot the clothes. The pale genin was left with the definitely less talkative maid and he shifted a little, not really sure what to do.

"Through that door is the bath, you may go in there and bathe. I'll be sure to get Tsubaki to put your clothes just inside the room so you can change." The maid suddenly said and Orochimaru nodded, walking towards the door. "My name is Sakura, by the way." She added and the snake summoner turned around to dip his head to her before going into the room with the bath. He sighed heavily and hoped to whatever god would listen that Jiraiya had woken up by then and tried to find help.

OxOxOxOxOxO

Jiraiya paced restlessly as he waited for Tsunade and Sarutobi to return with their hounds and report if they'd found anything. Suddenly the ninja hound at his side started barking and he looked over, the sandy colored dog had its nose just barely above the ground and was walking away. _'Did he find Orochi's scent trail?!'_ he thought hopefully as he began following, eventually the ninja hound broke out into a fast paced dash and the white haired genin made sure to keep up.

OxOxOxOxOxO

"Oh, she's beautiful, Father! I love her!" a loud voice exclaimed and Orochimaru turned around in irritation, his temper getting the better of him as he snapped at the two behind him. "I am a boy! Male! He, his, him! Not a girl!" he spat irritably and the older boy blinked before grinning widely. "Girl or guy you're still absolutely wonderful!" he replied in a chipper tone and the pale genin scoffed, turning around on his heel to continue walking after Sakura and Tsubaki. "What's your name?"

Orochimaru looked behind him slightly to see the boy following him and his frown grew. "Orochimaru." He replied bitterly, picking up his pace slightly to keep some distance between him and the stranger. "Orochimaru…I'll just call you Aru." The boy chuckled and the snake summoner faced him quickly. "You will not call me anything besides my name!"

The boy tilted his head, his choppy red hair somewhat falling in his face. "You've got pretty eyes." He commented and the pale genin turned around abruptly, his patience already worn thin by the small amount of time that he'd spent with the boy. "Aru, wait up." The boy called, hurrying after Orochimaru.

"Are you seriously going to follow me around?" he asked in annoyance and the boy nodded, a grin on his face. "Let's go out into the garden." He piped up, grabbing the smaller boy's hand and dragging him off with Sakura and Tsubaki in tow calling after them. "My name is Akihiko." The redhead informed him as they ran down the halls, a wide grin that quite honestly resembled Jiraiya's in some ways plastered on his face.

OxOxOxOxOxO

Jiraiya paused, crouched just outside a fence with the ninja hound pacing restlessly beside him. A large house was smack dab in the middle off the largely fenced off area and the white haired genin held down a yell of joy when he saw Orochimaru come out of the house. Sure the pale genin was being dragged along by some kid with red hair but still, his teammate was safe!

He grinned happily and watched as the redhead led the small genin over to a tree with a swing and made the snake summoner sit down on said swing. After a bit of pushing and pulling, the redhead got the swing to start swinging and he quickly stood on the swing, his feet on either side of Orochimaru's hips. _'The guy seems harmless, probably just trying to cheer Orochi up.'_ Jiraiya thought before he frowned with a low growl as the redhead reached down and stroked Orochimaru's cheek, causing the pale genin to jerk his face away from the touch.

' _I take that back. This guy is not harmless one bit.'_ He thought angrily before he reluctantly decided to hurry back to Sarutobi and Tsunade to report that he'd found Orochimaru.

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 ** _xP welp next chapter finally done XD sorry for the wait but hey, at least it's done! Lol so yeah, that's why people were going after Orochi XD reviews are love as always and I'll see you in the next chapter x3c_**


	9. Akihiko's Siblings and New Bride

_**Boop-a-doop next chapter here x3c lol hope ya enjoy~**_

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Orochimaru stared at nothing as Akihiko continued to make them swing and blab on about what his father did for a living. "So, you were a ninja?" the redhead suddenly asked and the snake summoner glanced up at the apparently older boy. "Am. I am a ninja." He replied calmly and Akihiko snorted slightly. "Not anymore. You're gonna be my wife so you'll have to stay with me. Just give up being a ninja."

The pale genin bristled in rage at that. "Excuse you? First of all, we're too young to be marrying each other. Secondly, you need my consent to marry me. Thirdly, I'm going to go back to Kohona, whether you like it or not." He hissed and Akihiko reached down with a hand to gently pat his head for a second. "Don't you want to be here, where it's safe? You don't have to worry about being killed or hurt here, you'd have everything you want and more." He asked and Orochimaru replied before he could stop himself.

"If I were to stay here then I'd never have everything I want." The redhead tilted his head at that, looking down at the smaller boy in curiosity. "How so?" he asked and the snake summoner gently smoothed down the red kimono he was given to wear in order to seem unaffected. "Well, first of all I wouldn't have the material needed for me to study my jutsu. Second, I wouldn't have my pet, no one else would be able to care for her." Akihiko listened intently as Orochimaru spoke, not cutting in once.

"Third, I wouldn't have Ji-." The genin made himself stop then, finally thinking before he continued. "My friends. I wouldn't have my friends." Akihiko looked down at Orochimaru curiously. "You were gonna say someone's name, who was it?" He asked and the snake summoner silently refused to answer, staring out at the forest that lay past the fence surrounding the garden.

Movement and the faintest glimpse of brown, blonde and white hair made the genin's eyes go wide. Could it be? He looked closer and hope swelled in his chest when he spotted Jiraiya, Sarutobi and Tsunade just barely through the foliage of the forest.

OxOxOxOxOxO

"See, there he is. On the swing." Jiraiya said, pointing to where his teammate was. They watched as the redhead looked over his shoulder suddenly before jumping off the swing and running towards the house. Orochimaru looked around before shooting off the swing and running towards them, clearly having seen them.

The white haired genin ran out as well, ignoring Sarutobi's light objection. "You're in hospital pajamas, what happened to you?" Orochimaru demanded as he approached, Jiraiya grinned sheepishly before waving his hand dismissively. "I'm fine, Sarutobi-sensei wanted me to be checked out at the hospital after he found out what happened. They made me change into these when I was resting. Are you okay? Who's the redhead?" the pale genin looked slightly unconvinced before he sighed heavily.

"His name is Akihiko. And I'm fine, just eager to get out of here." The snake summoner replied before he whipped around quickly as Sarutobi pulled Jiraiya back into the bushes when two women walked up. "Oro-chan, Masters Akio and Akihiko request that you come inside now." A brunette said, dipping her head to Orochimaru. The pale genin looked over his shoulder briefly at the bushes where he knew his team was hiding before he nodded. "I'm coming."

The two women began walking away and Jiraiya instantly bolted over to the fence again. "Wait, don't go! Just climb the fence, we can bring you home!" he exclaimed and Orochimaru looked at him helplessly. "They're watching." He said simply before beginning to follow the women. "Orochi!"

OxOxOxOxOxO

Akihiko's face lit up when Orochimaru walked up to him, the pale genin looked at the new people in the room cautiously. "See Mother, this is Aru. Well, Orochimaru, but I call him Aru." Akihiko said to the woman before pulling the snake summoner over to the teenage girl standing beside the woman. "Satomi, isn't he gorgeous?!" the redhead exclaimed excitedly and the teen looked Orochimaru up and down briefly. "You're plenty rude to him, he clearly doesn't like being dragged around like that. Also, he doesn't seem to like being around strangers too much."

Akihiko looked at the genin, who looked down to avoid making eye contact with him. He didn't like being read like a book by a complete stranger in front of more strangers. "Ah, I'm sorry Aru, here let's go to the library, doesn't that sound fun?" the redhead apologized before leading Orochimaru off as the black haired boy nodded slightly.

"That was my mother and sister, Satomi, don't worry about them. They may seem like they're rude but they're really kind. Mother is just dropping Satomi off for a while. She'll be gone at the most by next week."

Orochimaru didn't reply and simply allowed Akihiko to lead him to the library. "I need to spend a little more time with Mother, I'll be back as soon as I can." The redhead stated before running back the way they came, the snake summoner walked over to a bookshelf and began looking at the books. Eventually he felt another presence in he room and he looked at the door, Satomi was watching him silently.

"May I help you?" the pale genin asked after a second and Satomi walked over, grabbing a book and holding it out to him. "I think I should be asking the one if I can help you." She replied. "And I think you would like this book, it has research notes of my grandfather, he was a ninja." Orochimaru took the book after a second before tilting his head to the side curiously. "And how would you be able to help me?"

Satomi looked around before motioning for him to follow her as she headed towards the back of the library. "Well, you have a month until your marriage to my brother. Now either I can help you get to know him without actually getting to know him or I can get you back to your village." She replied, grabbing the shelf of a rather old looking bookcase and pulling the entire thing away from the wall to reveal a door. "Satomi! Could you bring Aru out here? Misaki and Yumi want to meet him!" Akihiko called and Satomi scowled, pushing the bookshelf back to its original position before motioning for Orochimaru to follow her.

"They'll get suspicious if we don't come. We'll get you out of here after we amuse them for a little while. Well, that is if you want to leave." She said and the pale genin nodded somewhat too eagerly in his opinion before following the older girl quickly. As soon as they stepped into the room that Akihiko was two shrill squeals made the genin tense uncomfortably. Two blondes ran over and began saying incoherent things before one jabbed a finger at his face.

"Do you wear makeup?" she demanded and the snake summoner shook his head. "Then what's with the purple?" she asked and Orochimaru sighed a little, looking to the side a bit. "It comes from my mother's clan, along with my pale skin. My eye and hair colors come from my father's clan." He explained awkwardly, trying to keep himself from seeming upset when mentioning his parents.

The blonde that hadn't spoken to him directly gasped and cupped her cheek with a hand. "Oh my god, your parents, do they know you're here?" she asked and Akihiko pushed his way in between them to stand next to the smaller boy. "Of course they know." He huffed and Orochimaru frowned. "No…they don't actually…"

The four siblings looked at him with wide eyes and the snake summoner shifted under their gaze. "What do you mean by that, Father said he bought you from your family." Akihiko questioned and golden eyes focused securely on the floor. "Well…that would be rather hard to do, considering the only family that's ever known that I was born were my parents…" he mumbled and Satomi gasped slightly, putting her hand on his shoulder to get him to look up at her.

"Are they..?" she whispered and Orochimaru sighed a little, returning his gaze to the overly polished wood floor. "Yes. They're dead, they've been dead for a few years now." He replied softly and the two blondes hugged him suddenly, insisting that everything would be okay and pleading that he wouldn't get sad. "If your parents are dead, then why do you want to go back to that village?" Akihiko asked and the pale boy looked at him, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Because despite not having many that like my presence in the village, I still have a reason to be there."

He had to admit that he really shouldn't have hissed at the boy, but he couldn't take it back now. Squirming from the blondes' holds he stated that he was through talking about his reasons and left to go back to his room. Sakura and Tsubaki followed him closely, having been in the room since they fetched him from the garden.

"Master Akio said that there is a new bride here for Akihiko, he said that she was in the extra bed in your room, is that fine?" Tsubaki asked softly and Orochimaru replied with a brief 'I couldn't care less' before stepping into his now shared bedroom. He hardly paid attention to the apparently asleep girl on the bed and looked out the window, the moon now rising in the sky. After a while he turned around and froze upon seeing the girl's face.

The new 'bride' for Akihiko was none other than his own teammate Tsunade.

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 _ **Okay, this chapter's done finally XD and now Tsunade has been dragged into poor Orochimaru's little dilemma o3o anyways, reviews are love and motivation for me to get the chapters out quicker! x) thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter!**_


	10. Brief Breakdown and Determined Attack

_**Aaand it's the next chapter! x3 lol**_

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Orochimaru darted over to Tsunade's bed and sat down on the edge of it, gently shaking her in hopes that she'd wake up. "Tsunade?" he tried, sighing in relief when she shifted with a whine of complaint. "Orochimaru, I'm trying to sleep." She mumbled before she seemed to realize what she just said, shooting up into a sitting position she stared at him with wide eyes.

"Orochimaru, you got away?!" she gasped and the pale genin shook his head, a frown on his face as he noticed the small entry wound of a needle on the side of her neck. "No, you've been caught too." He said, looking at the small prick closer before sighing and looking at his teammate in annoyance. "How did you let someone use a sedative on you, Tsunade, really?" he asked before suddenly shaking his head, covering his eyes with a hand. "Never mind, these guys are tricky bastards."

The blonde looked at the smaller genin in concern, putting her hand on his arm slightly. "You okay?" she asked and the snake summoner suddenly dropped his face into both his hands before shaking violently. Tsunade felt her heart wrench as soft stuttering sobs came from her teammate and she quickly drew him into a hug.

"Hush, Orochimaru." She whispered, trying desperately to think of something to talk about to stop the other's crying. "Hey, remember our fifth mission? The one where you goaded Jiraiya and I into a fight?"

* * *

 _"Not kidding, the perv's been spying on the woman's hot springs for a while now." Orochimaru said and Jiraiya gaped at the smallest genin with wide eyes before he yelped as Tsunade punched him in the face. "You're disgusting!" she shrieked giving chase as the white haired genin scrambled to his feet and ran. The snake summoner smirked and started chuckling softly to himself as he watched his teammates run around causing a ruckus._

 _Sarutobi eventually made his way over to the genin and watched for a while with him before looking down at Orochimaru. "Did you start this?" he asked and the pale genin looked up at him innocently, yelping and ducking to avoid being hit by Jiraiya as the larger genin was sent flying by the blonde. Tsunade bulled after him, nearly knocking Orochimaru off his seat in the process, screaming profanities and insults at Jiraiya._

 _"Why would I want to spy on a flat chest like you?!" Jiraiya eventually shouted at her, leaping backwards to avoid yet another punch to the face but he ended up knocking into Orochimaru, causing them both to fall to the ground. Sarutobi grabbed Tsunade by the back of her shirt and watched as Jiraiya rolled off Orochimaru only to use the small genin as a shield. "Hey, keep me out of this!" the snake summoner said indignantly, trying to pull himself away from his teammate._

 _Sarutobi sighed after a second and looked at the three of them seriously. "Who started this?" he asked and Tsunade jabbed her finger at Jiraiya. "The perv was watching me in the hot springs!" she shouted and the white haired genin glared at her as he continued hiding behind Orochimaru, who by this point had given up trying to get free._

 _"I'd never research flat chests like you, Tsunade, I need proper inspiration to write my books. Also known as women with at the very least some breasts." The white haired genin grinned slightly at the thought of breasts and Orochimaru cast a helpless glance at their sensei. "Help." He said feebly, now being choked by his teammate's all too tight grip around his neck. "Jiraiya, you're choking Orochimaru." Sarutobi said and Jiraiya moved his arms down around the smaller genin's shoulders, clearly not going to risk letting him go and having Tsunade start chasing him again._

 _The brunet sighed heavily and looked at his students seriously. "You guys need to stop taunting each other, you're teammates and are supposed to be helping each other, not squabbling between each other."_

* * *

The snake summoner laughed feebly at the memory. "Yeah, I remember, that was…interesting." He said, finally seeming to cheer up slightly as he looked up at last and brushed his hair from his face. Tsunade smiled, more than relieved that the other was clearly feeling better, she decided not to ask why he was upset in the first place.

OxOxOxOxOxO

Jiraiya groaned as the world spiraled back into focus and he looked around, Sarutobi was still out cold not too far away and the three ninja hounds were all unconscious as well. The white haired genin looked around again, worry building up in his chest when he didn't spot or sense Tsunade anywhere close. He shot to his feet, stumbling slightly but not falling, and ran to Sarutobi's side, shaking his sensei in a panic. "Sarutobi-sensei, wake up!"

The brunet slowly came to and looked up at his student blankly before noticing the panic written all over the genin's face. "What happened?" he demanded, sitting up quickly. "Tsunade's gone, I don't sense her anywhere!" Jiraiya exclaimed, scrambling to his feet to look around with wide eyes, the white haired genin was right.

"She must've been taken." He concluded and dark eyes glared back in the direction they'd come from. "That's it." Jiraiya growled before he took off back towards the house they'd left Orochimaru at. "Jiraiya wait!" Sarutobi shouted but the genin didn't listen nor stop, he'd be damned if he just went back to Kohona like nothing ever happened.

* * *

 _Jiraiya looked at Orochimaru in frustration as the black haired genin lost his temper and snapped at him once again. The snake had fresh tears brimming in his eyes as he stared blankly at the still dusty floor of the cabin. "Orochi, talk to me, please." The white haired genin pleaded, his confusion growing as his teammate simply pushed himself off the bed to stand._

 _"Why do you care all of a sudden about this?" the snake summoner grumbled, glaring at the larger genin before looking down so his face was well hidden by his hair. "Why? I came back to you screaming and crying in your sleep. Orochimaru, I'm worried about you." Jiraiya said, gently making the pale genin sit down on the bed again by pushing down on his shoulders. Orochimaru didn't reply or resist the other's touch and he stared at nothing for a while before his tears began to fall._

 _"Th-they accused me of killing them…they stood and watched as my parents bled out. No one helped them and because I was by them, they blamed me." The small genin whimpered, bringing his knees up to his chest and burying his face against them to hide his tears. "I-I was four," he sobbed softly. "Despite my age they still assumed I did it." Jiraiya sat down next to his teammate and gently pulled him against his chest comfortingly as he rubbed the other's back._

 _He didn't quite know what to say, he'd heard rumors about what happened to Orochimaru's parents but never the confirmed verdict. Not even Sarutobi-sensei would tell him. "I'm sorry…forget I said anything." Orochimaru whispered and Jiraiya gave him a reassuring squeeze. "You don't need to worry. I won't make you regret telling me."_

* * *

Jiraiya pressed on, his gaze locked on the glow of the house in the distance. He would _NOT_ just sit around while his teammates were caught. Orochimaru trusted him that night and he was pretty sure the smaller genin still did.

He'd sooner die than let the snake summoner down again like back in the clearing earlier. The white haired genin jumped the fence, his shoe slightly scraping the top of the material. "Jiraiya come back here!" Sarutobi hissed as he stopped at the fence, watching helplessly as the stubborn white haired boy made a beeline for the house.

OxOxOxOxOxO

Orochimaru stared out the window blankly, Tsunade fast asleep next to him on the small couch that made up the windowsill. The stars and moon seemed to taunt him, showing off their freedom as they shown in the night sky. He sighed and looked across the garden towards the forest, knowing that somewhere out there probably only two people cared about his disappearance.

Sudden flames erupted in the garden and the snake sat up quickly, waking Tsunade with the sudden movement. "What's wrong?" she yawned, noticing the fire soon after she spoke and the house filled with shouts and yells. Orochimaru stood and jumped off the couch, the nightgown he was given to sleep in flowing around him as he ran.

That was without a doubt either Sarutobi or Jiraiya. Maybe even both. Either way, whoever it was clearly didn't know about the ninja group hired to protect the estate at all costs.

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 _ **Stupid physical therapy is all I can say at the moment. I mean seriously but thankfully I'm done now e.e sorry for taking a while with this chapter but I finally got it out thankfully! Reviews are love x3c**_


	11. Jiraiya's Hurt

_**o3o I've decided on an official update day XD lol I'm thinking every other Wednesday I'll update this fic, also ;n; the fic is almost over ;A; whaaaat? I know, I know xP but don't kill me! I'm planning on writing another OvO hehehe also this was supposed to go up yesterday XD sorry about that o3o lost track of time playing video games with my siblings and father x3c**_

* * *

Jiraiya ducked to avoid being attacked from behind, his dark eyes focused on the ninja around him. "Stop getting in my way." He growled, utter fury in his voice as he heard faint voices screaming in the house. One ninja disappeared and the genin readied himself to avoid a direct attack.

"Aru, stop! Someone's attacking you can't go out there!" a voice yelled and Jiraiya froze as he saw Orochimaru run from the house, his eyes wide in fear. "Stop don't hurt him!" the redhead from earlier cried as Orochimaru flung himself in front of Jiraiya to protect him from a sword strike. The smaller genin cried out in pain and grabbed his shoulder, crimson blood standing out painfully against his pale skin. "Orochimaru!"

The snake summoner looked at him with wide eyes before he shrieked as the redhead pulled him away. "Akihiko make them stop!" he shouted as Jiraiya was forced back from being rushed by the ninja. "He's dangerous, I will not!" Akihiko stated stubbornly and Orochimaru struggled to free his wrist, eventually freezing in horror as one cut Jiraiya across the chest with his sword.

OxOxOxOxOxO

Orochimaru wailed as the white haired genin was kicked away harshly, the pain the other must've been in making it so he couldn't avoid the attack. "Stop!" Tsunade screamed as she ran out, punching the ninja who'd hurt both her teammates in the stomach and sending him flying backwards. The snake summoner looked at Akihiko hatefully, summoning a snake to scare him into letting his wrist go.

The brown serpent hissed, striking at Akihiko and efficiently causing the redhead to let the summoner go. Instantly the pale genin ran over to Jiraiya as the snake fell to smoke, Tsunade and Orochimaru helped the white haired genin to his feet. "Are you two okay? Neither of you have been hurt, right?" Jiraiya asked and the smallest genin shook his head quickly. "We need to worry about you, you'll die."

Satomi rushed over to the three genin with wide eyes, easily seeing the blood on the two boys. "Inside quickly, Tsubaki can help you two." She ordered, leading the way quickly as the two helped Jiraiya. Tsubaki and Sakura were in the kitchen, talking as they ate a few pieces of bread.

The brunette saw the four of them and stopped eating, putting the bread she had in her hand down before rushing over. "Oro-chan, what happened to you? Who's this? Why are you both hurt?" Tsubaki asked as she crouched in front of the genin, looking at Jiraiya's wound with wide eyes. "It doesn't matter what happened to me, please help him." Orochimaru whimpered, his eyes wide in fear as the white haired genin collapsed slightly.

Tsubaki nodded quickly and picked up Jiraiya, ignoring the largest genin's objection. "No, Orochi, Tsunade!" the white haired genin coughed and his teammates followed quickly, Tsunade checking Orochimaru's shoulder as they walked. "Aru! Get back here!" Akihiko yelled as he followed the pale genin, who just ignored him and continued walking.

"Listen to me!" the redhead complained, running in front of Orochimaru and stopping, which made the blonde and black haired genin freeze. "Get out of our way." The snake summoner hissed, his golden eyes filled with anger. "But I'm worried about you!" Akihiko cried as he looked at the blood covering Orochimaru's shoulder and slowly dripping off his index finger.

The pale genin bristled in anger and shoved his way past Akihiko. "I do not care for your worry. Had you have ordered your ninja to stop, I would not be hurt nor would Jiraiya." He stated emotionlessly as he dragged Tsunade along behind him. "How was I supposed to know he didn't pose a threat?" the redhead countered as he followed, each click of his shoes on the floor making anger grow in Orochimaru's chest.

"Do you take me as a fool then? I wouldn't protect someone who would do me harm, no sane person would!"

Akihiko's footsteps faltered at that, hesitated, Orochimaru hit a nerve. "Do not say such things!" the slightly older boy growled and the snake hissed, turning around to face the larger boy. "If you continue to follow me I will not, I repeat, will _not_ hesitate in chasing you off. I have had enough of dealing with you and all the grief your father and your ninja have put my friends and I through." Akihiko froze at that, slightly terrified of the look the snake had.

The mouse was cornered by a snake it had pestered far too long.

"Orochimaru, you're losing a lot of blood. Let's just go." Tsunade said, gently taking her teammate's wrist in her hand before she quickly dragged him away. Much to her relief Akihiko didn't follow and she turned the corner into the room where she had seen Tsubaki disappear into with Jiraiya. Orochimaru finally pulled his wrist free and he rushed to the bed that Jiraiya was laying unconscious on.

The snake slipped onto the bed and laid beside Jiraiya, hiding his face against his teammate's shoulder. "Will he be okay?" the blonde asked as she looked up at the brunette with wide eyes. The maid nodded as she put a bowl of water, rag, needle and thread on the bedside table.

"He'll be just fine, I gave him some anesthetic. He'll be feeling a lot better, albeit a little sore, in the morning." She reassured as she set to work cleaning the large slash and stitching it closed. "Sakura, could you please help Oro-chan with his shoulder?" Tsubaki asked without looking up and Tsunade turned around to watch the woman walk in, her orange hair still catching Tsunade off guard. "Very well, sit up please, Orochimaru." She said and slowly the pale genin sat up, his eyes glazed with pain and worry.

The female genin watched as a light blue green chakara engulfed the woman's hand as she hovered it above the wound. "You're using your chakara to heal him?" Tsunade asked and Sakura didn't bother turning to face her. "I come from a long line of medically specialized ninjas. It's only natural that I know how to use it." She replied and the blonde watched in fascination.

Orochimaru could hardly hear them; he was too busy watching the shaky rise and fall of Jiraiya's chest as he breathed. Was it his fault that his teammates now were suffering just as much, if not worse, as him? Without knowing it, he subconsciously summoned a snake and the thin black serpent wrapped itself calmingly around his arm.

The genin blinked upon seeing the snake and sighed, letting his fingers trail along the smooth creature. "Reimei…" he mumbled, distressed by the familiarity of the summoning and his pet. Two sets of golden eyes stared into each other and the snake gently slipped its way to curl around his neck.

"You can summon snakes, Orochimaru?" Tsunade asked, frowning as her teammate didn't seem to hear her. "Orochimaru?" she tried again before she gently put her hand on his, the touch drawing his distant gaze to her. "Are you okay?" the snake summoner frowned before sighing, bringing his knees up to his chest and shaking his head. "I want to go home."

OxOxOxOxOxO

Orochimaru thanked the maids and slowly wandered his way over to his bed, laying on the silk sheets with a defeated sigh. Tsunade sat on her own bed and studied her teammate carefully; he never normally acted depressed like this. "Hey, Orochimaru, do you want to talk about what's bothering you?" she asked, trying to indirectly encourage her friend to talk to her.

The smaller genin shook his head, silken black strands hardly moving with the motion. "I'm fine…" he said in a small voice and the blonde got off her bed, joining Orochimaru on his. "No you're not." She sighed, gently pulling him up so he could rest his head on her shoulder. "I'm here to listen if you want to talk."

* * *

 ** _;o; oh nooo Jiraiya's hurt and Oro's upset, Tsunade's worried and Sarutobi has no clue what's happened to his students. XD lol as I said at the beginning of the chapter, this is almost over ;n;_**


	12. A few Days Later

**_Next chapter e-e nothing else to say besides that XD_**

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Sarutobi walked around his room restlessly. Were his students okay? Did Jiraiya get himself killed rushing in like that?

 _"We'll send ANBU to check out the area. That is all I can do for now, Hiruzen."_

The Hokage's words rung in Sarutobi's ears and he looked out the window, the sun was just barely rising. _'Third day of them being gone.'_ He thought bitterly before he sighed.

OxOxOxOxOxO

Jiraiya groaned as bright light flooded into the room from the window, mumbling in complaint he grabbed the blanket and pulled it over his head. "I think you should get up now, Jiraiya." Orochimaru commented as he stepped into the room, casting an amused glance at his teammate as this got another groan from him. "But I still want to sleep." The white haired genin complained, peeking out from under the blanket to look curiously at the plate the pale genin set on the bedside table.

"Well at least get up to eat, then I'll come wake you up again when it's time for lunch." The snake summoner said in amusement as he started picking up the random items strewn across the floor. The white haired genin was starting to get restless and had taken to throwing things at the wall to get Orochimaru's attention. "Fine." Jiraiya huffed, sitting up slowly and taking the bowl of rice from the plate.

As he ate, he watched the other tidy up the room and he couldn't help but as always wonder why. Whenever he asked the pale genin would pass it off as it wasn't important or it wasn't Jiraiya's room so it shouldn't be always looking like a disaster area. _'You need to stop throwing things at the wall, you'll either dent it or break a hole into it.'_ His teammate had chastised him after the fifth or sixth time where the white haired genin had gotten Tsunade to shout at him.

' _Then why don't you just sleep in here with me, then I wouldn't have to throw things to get your attention.'_ He'd countered only to watch as the snake summoner's face scrunch up before he had shook his head. _'Everyone would get upset with that.'_ Had been Orochimaru's barely there reply before he left as Akihiko had stopped just outside the room, glaring at them. Jiraiya sighed, stopping in his eating to look at the closed door of the room.

His teammate had taken to closing it since Akihiko's glare fest the previous day. "That was a rather heavy sigh, Jiraiya." The pale genin commented, looking up from the book he had sat down to read, the white haired genin looked at Orochimaru. "We should really be trying to escape and get back to Sarutobi-sensei." He said as Tsunade stepped into the room.

"He's got a point. If we get him to Kohona then we could have him feeling better in no time compared to here where it'd take much longer for him to heal." The blonde agreed, closing the door behind her before leaning against it and crossing her arms over her chest. Orochimaru looked between his teammates before tilting his head with a sigh, he was clearly keeping something from them. "Well…about that…" he began, looking at them before motioning Tsunade closer.

The female genin walked closer and looked at the smallest genin in expectation. "Satomi is helping me find a way out of here without it causing so much suspicion. There's already an easy way to get out into the garden but from there it's been no luck in finding ways out." The snake summoner said in a quiet voice, clearly trying to keep anyone outside of the room from hearing in case they were listening at the door. "We'll need a few more days, hopefully we'll be able to get away during the pre-wedding day party." Jiraiya choked on his rice at that, his eyes going wide as he looked at his teammates.

"Pre-wedding day party?! The hell does that mean?!" he demanded and Tsunade looked briefly disgusted before she looked away with a huff. Orochimaru looked rather irked before he sighed. "Tsunade and I were caught and brought here to be Akihiko's brides. Originally it was just going to be me but then they found out I was a boy, Akihiko apparently needs at least one heir so they found the next closest female in the area." He explained and the white haired genin growled lowly before he began eating again. "I'd rather die than let you two be some brat's wives."

The snake looked momentarily relieved before irritated then finally revolted. "Don't talk with your mouth full. It's horribly disgusting." He stated before going back to his book, clearly done with their conversation. Jiraiya ate in silence until he finished the rice. "You're so picky about how I eat, Orochi, why's that?"

Golden eyes continued to study the book before looking up at the bedridden genin. "No one will want to date you if you're a disgusting, ill-mannered pig." He said simply before going back to his book again, Jiraiya paused and looked at his teammate, tilting his head. "That's rude of you to say." He said with a pout and the pale genin sighed, this time not even bothering to look at him.

"I was simply stating the truth. I mean, I wouldn't date you if you ate and spoke with your mouthful and burped without excusing yourself afterwards. Meaning, no girl would either."

The white haired genin looked at the smaller genin with a tilt of his head. "So you're saying that if I didn't do that then you'd date me?" he asked, wondering why his chest felt like it was tight with worry. "Yes, I would." Orochimaru said before his face flushed and he quickly began correcting himself. "I mean I would if I were a girl, or if you were a girl. Don't get the wrong idea, I-I'm not like that!"

At this Tsunade began giggling at her teammate's flustered words. "Why are you laughing?!" Orochimaru demanded and the blonde smiled innocently before she left the room without a word. "Tsunade!" the pale genin shouted as he ran after her, dropping his book on the foot of Jiraiya's bed.

OxOxOxOxOxO

"Tsunade, tell me why you were laughing!" Orochimaru ordered as he chased after his teammate, the blonde laughed as she continued to run, ignoring her friend. "Why do you care so much?" she giggled as she ducked to avoid hitting the tray Sakura was carrying and Orochimaru slid under the rolling table Tsubaki was pushing. "Just-! Because Tsunade, just tell me!" he nearly begged as he shot to his feet again, shouting an apology back to the maids as he continued chasing his teammate.

The female genin continued to laugh before she quickly climbed up the stairs leading to the second story of the house. "Tsunade!" Orochimaru complained as he threw himself up the stairs, going two at a time before he stopped and looked around in exasperation when he didn't see her. "This is so unfair! Just tell me!" the pale genin complained before he began opening each door to each room to check if Tsunade was in there.

"You're being so childish Tsunade!" the snake summoner shouted when he reached the last room in the hall, he saw a door open and Tsunade ran out then down the stairs. "Get back here!" Orochimaru snapped as he gave chase again, completely jumping down the stairs and rolling into his fall so he could shoot up and after the blonde. Eventually, his better knowledge of the house layout gave him the advantage and he cut through a room or two so he could leap out in front of his friend.

"Unfair." The blonde chuckled as she skidded to a halt, her brown eyes glittering in amusement before she sighed. "Fine, you want to know?" she asked and the breathless pale genin nodded, still posed and ready in case she tried to run again. "I was laughing because I know you were lying~." She hummed and the snake summoner blushed, glancing away for a second.

The female genin giggled a little again before she smiled. "I wasn't lying." Orochimaru finally lied, trying to cover up his lie with another, hopefully better, one. "I'm not buying it." Tsunade said, crossing her arms over her chest before tilting her head and cocking her hips. "Are you embarrassed by it?"

The pale genin blushed more and slowly nodded before looking at her pleadingly. "Fine, I admit it, but I'm not interested in a slob like Jiraiya. Don't tell the village though, they hate me enough and don't need another reason to." He said and his friend smiled, walking over and patting his head. "Don't worry about it, Orochimaru, I'd never even dream about telling the village." She smiled before starting to walk in the direction of Jiraiya's room. "Let's get back to Jiraiya before he loses his mind wondering what we're doing."

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 ** _Ahahahaha XD I had fun writing this lol it really brightened my mood :) XD anyways yeah lol next chapter will be up on the 10th next month x3 see ya then~_**


	13. Getting Away

_**Heeey I'm back again with the next chapter XD**_

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Jiraiya froze in his attempts of getting out of bed when Tsunade and Orochimaru walked back into the room. Instantly their expressions turned annoyed and Orochimaru walked over, pushing the white haired genin back down onto the bed. "Stop it, you'll reopen your wounds." The snake summoner stated, irritably flicking the blanket back over his teammate before grabbing his book once again and started reading as he sat on the edge of the mattress.

"What were you two doing?" the bedridden genin asked and Tsunade shrugged, taking the seat that the pale genin had long since vacated. "I was just pestering Orochimaru, nothing important." She said, watching the way a foreign emotion flashed across the pale genin's face before it disappeared within a split second. "Oro-chan? Tsuna-chan?" the ever-polite voice of Tsubaki made the three genin look up as the door creaked open, the maid smiled at them. "Masters Akio and Akihiko would like to see you two, they've had a few tailors come to take your measurements for you party clothes."

Orochimaru scoffed in annoyance before putting his book down, the other three knew he wasn't – and would never be – mad at the maid. "Fine, Tsunade let's go get this done. Jiraiya, we'll be right back." He grumbled, looking at Jiraiya seriously, a silent order for him not to even dare think about trying to get out of bed. "I'll stay in bed, promise." The white haired genin chuckled nervously, a thin trail of sweat sliding down the side of his face.

The snake summoner stared at him skeptically before he wiped the sweat away with his sleeve and left with Tsunade and Tsubaki. Jiraiya stared after his teammates for a minute before he decided to take a nap, seeing as Orochimaru never let him sleep during the day. With a sheepish grin, he fell back against his pillows before looking at the book that lay at his side, curiosity got the best of him and he picked it up.

OxOxOxOxOxO

"Aru, it's good to see you this afternoon." Akihiko said with a smile, clearly trying to patch his status with the snake. "Can we get this done? Tsunade and I have plans that we would prefer to remain on time." Orochimaru asked, completely ignoring the redhead and Tsunade didn't bother to call him out on it. Akihiko's smile dropped when he was blatantly ignored before he sighed, Akio frowned but motioned for the tailors to step forward.

The two men walked up to the genin and instantly began measuring them, being closely watched by the snake summoner whenever they went near Tsunade. "So, the party will be tomorrow, I hope you two do not mind about this." Akio commented, smoking a pipe as he watched the tailors. Orochimaru hissed in anger and glared at the man. "Of course we mind!"

The man waved his hand dismissively. "It was a rhetorical question, child, you have no say in it." He chuckled, seemingly pleased with himself, before he yelped as a snake appeared on his chair. The serpent hissed threateningly and the pale genin chuckled darkly.

"Not scared of snakes I hope, you don't mind if I have a few then while living here, do you?" he taunted as Akio scrambled out of his chair and moved a safe distance away from the reptile. "Of course I mind!" the man complained and Orochimaru looked at him innocently, his feminine looks merely adding to the fake look of purity. "Oh, but you misunderstand. It was a rhetorical question, Master Akio, you have no say in it." He said in a sickly sweet voice while his summoning made its way back to him, making itself comfortable next to him.

Tsunade laughed at the man's distraught expression and Akihiko's awestruck one, they certainly underestimated her teammate. Orochimaru calmly bent down to lift the snake in his arms. The serpent contented itself with being looped loosely around the genin's neck and it let its head dangle off the boy's shoulder.

"I had no idea you have such…an interesting pet…how long has it been in the house?" Akio asked slowly and the snake summoner laughed dryly, stroking the summoning when it hissed and reared up in anger. "You misunderstand. This is not my pet, simply one of the snakes I have the ability to summon. If I so wish it, I could summon one large enough to destroy this entire estate." His expression turned to one of complete viciousness. "And do not think that I will not do so, I have nothing to fear here nor would Manda."

Akio looked at Orochimaru distastefully before announcing that he would be leaving them to their devices and waddling off. The pale genin's sadistic essence instantly dropped and he ran his hand down the snake one more time before allowing it to fall to smoke. "You like snakes too?" Akihiko asked excitedly and annoyance flashed across the smaller boy's face before he turned away from the redhead.

OxOxOxOxOxO

"My feet huuuuurt." Tsunade complained as she followed Orochimaru back upstairs and into Jiraiya's room, the white haired genin jumped as the door opened and quickly hid something behind his back. Orochimaru paused and stared at his teammate suspiciously before he frowned. "What are you hiding?" he asked and Jiraiya tried to look innocent as he chuckled nervously. "Nothing important…"

The pale genin opened his mouth to challenge the other again before he felt someone grab his shoulder. It was well past midnight now and the fact anyone aside from the maids was awake surprised him. He turned around and looked up at Satomi in confusion, tilting his head to the side.

"What is it?" he asked as he watched the teenaged girl walk into the room and helped Jiraiya stand. "I took the opportunity that was presented by not being watched and found you guys the escape you've been needing." She said and the genin all perked up at that, relief radiating off them in waves. "Let me help." Tsunade offered, wrapping Jiraiya's free arm around her neck to help support them before all four of them made their way into the library.

Orochimaru looked around, worried that they would be seen before he quickly closed the door to the library as he walked in. "This way." Satomi led the way to the secret bookcase and pulled it open easily, gasping lowly as she nearly dropped one of the books. "That was close." She sighed before she let Orochimaru go in ahead of them, the snake held the bookcase open to let the others through.

As soon as the others were clear, he let the bookcase go and followed them quickly as they all but ran down the corridor. "I won't be able to follow you outside, but you need to go to the left side of the house, as in far far left. You can slip through a hold under the fence there; it's quite large so Jiraiya won't be harmed while being helped through. I took the priority to snoop around. There is a small town twenty meters southeast of here, you can ask for help back to your village there." Satomi explained as she started up the stairs at the end of the hall, Orochimaru slipped past them and opened the hatch. "Thank you, Satomi, we owe you one and if we ever meet again then that will be my first priority to repay you." Orochimaru said as he took up her place in helping Jiraiya, Satomi smiled and nodded. "I have a feeling we will meet again some day."

The genin slid their way quietly along the edge of the house, getting to the far left corner and pretty much instantly spotting the hole. "You go first then Jiraiya and finally me." The snake summoner said and Tsunade nodded, sliding under the fence and waiting crouched next to the hole. "What if you're caught again?" Jiraiya suddenly asked and the pale genin looked up at him in surprise.

"I won't be, if need be I'll fight my way free if I am caught." He reassured before he helped the white haired genin onto the ground and under the fence. Just as he was about to slide into the hole a hand grabbed his shoulder making him freeze and looked behind him quickly. Akihiko stared at him with pain filled eyes and Jiraiya tried to get back on the other side of the fence. "You're leaving?"

The snake swallowed nervously before looking at the redhead pleadingly. "Why do you want to go?" Akihiko asked and Orochimaru looked at Jiraiya, who was staring at the smaller genin in fear. "I belong at home, in Kohona." The snake summoner tried and the larger boy shook his head. "No one likes you back there."

Orochimaru sighed and looked at his teammates. "They do, and our sensei. That's all I need. They're all I need to stay in Kohona." He whispered before looking up at him in a nearly begging way. "I-I can bring your sensei here too if you want. I can do anything you want if you'll stay. Please, Orochimaru, I've fallen in love with you, please stay." The redhead pleaded and the snake felt his cheeks burn at the confession.

"Akihiko…" he said slowly before he tried to pull away from the redhead. "If you truthfully love me, you'd let me go. I cannot force my team to stay here; they all are loyal to our village. As long as they are, as long as they care about me, I will remain loyal to what they are loyal to. I _need_ to go home, please." He tried and after a second the redhead let him go, pain in his eyes before he sighed. "Hurry, before my father realizes you're all gone." He whispered and Orochimaru thanked him breathlessly, slipping under the fence as quick as a snake.

The snake summoner looked at Akihiko before taking a deep breath. "We'll meet again Akihiko, when we're older. When we do, try winning my heart and maybe I will marry you." He said before quickly helping Tsunade get Jiraiya to stand and then they hurriedly made their way in the direction of the town. Akihiko stared after them until they were long out of sight and he remained outside the entire night, wondering if the words the snake had spoken were true.

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 ** _Guuuuys XD I did it lmfao I got this chapter done with like literally a day to spare XD XD XD XD I'll try to get other chapters for my other fics up as well but I might not be able to as I am rather far behind. Anyway, reviews are love and motivation for sure x3 let me know if you're enjoying the final few chapters XD see you on the 24th x3_**


	14. The Town

_**Boop-a-doop second to last chapter ;-; yup, that's how close it is to being done. I know I didn't post this last time, I apologize ;~;**_

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Orochimaru paused, hesitating just outside of the town and Tsunade stopped as well, both of his teammates looked at him and he let out a shaky breath. "What's wrong?" Jiraiya asked, clearly not annoyed about what he said to Akihiko any longer. "Nothing…" the pale genin whispered before they started walking again, they made their way to the closest still open store and Tsunade hurried in.

The two male genin were left to wait by themselves as Tsunade asked for directions and a possible place to stay the night. "We're so close to finally getting you home." The white haired genin suddenly commented and the snake summoner laughed dryly. "Let's hope nothing gets in our way this time." He said and the larger genin laughed at that, making a noise of agreement before they fell silent again.

Eventually Tsunade poked her head out of the store, a victorious look on her face as she waved her teammates closer. Orochimaru sighed softly and stepped forward, being extra careful with his balance as to not bring both him and Jiraiya down. As soon as they were close enough, Tsunade returned to helping the smallest genin support the largest.

"Harumi?" a voice gasped and the genin froze in confusion, Orochimaru tilted his head at his mother's name. "Harumi? My precious daughter is that you?" an elderly woman asked as she stepped in front of Orochimaru, who stared at her blankly. "Harumi was my mother's name, I apologize, you might've mistaken me for her." He said softly and the woman crouched down so she was able to look at the small genin better. "You have our clan's markings and skin. You really are my daughter's child."

Orochimaru's eyes went wide at that, unable to speak in his surprise before he looked at his teammates. "You also have his hair and eye color…so she ran off with him after all." The old woman sighed before she looked at him seriously. "Wait…are you my grandmother Kaede?" he asked and the woman smiled, nodding.

"Yes, and what might your name be, child?" Kaede asked gently and Orochimaru had to swallow the lump that grew in his throat. "Orochimaru." He whispered and his grandmother's smile turned to one of warm affection. "Orochimaru. My grandson." She said softly before she gently kissed his forehead, just like his mother always had, and he found himself already willing to let this stranger near him.

He looked up at her as she stood and Kaede motioned back towards the door she came from. "You all look simply starved, come back with me and I will cook you all something." Orochimaru looked at his teammates for confirmation before he followed Kaede, giggling as he heard Jiraiya's stomach growl. "Are you laughing at me?" the white haired genin asked and the snake summoner looked up at him innocently. "I would never."

"Liar." Jiraiya huffed, using his arm that was wrapped around the smaller genin's shoulder to ruffle his ever-silky smooth hair. Orochimaru snorted in annoyance, fixing his hair as Kaede said they could sit wherever they liked. Deciding to all sit together, the genin made their way to a couch and sat down all at the same time.

Pretty much instantly, Jiraiya wrapped his arm around Orochimaru and pulled him closer, earning a surprised yelp from the snake. "Don't do that it's rude." The pale genin complained as he tried to sit up correctly and glaring at his teammate when the other wouldn't let him go. "You're staying right here." The white haired genin grinned and the snake summoner sighed heavily before rolling his eyes.

In a matter of a few minutes Kaede placed three bowls of ramen in front of them and Jiraiya more than eagerly took the bowl that was in front of him. "Thank you." Orochimaru said with a dip of his head before he took his own bowl, only hesitating a few seconds before taking a bite of the food. Tsunade thanked Kaede as well before she too began to eat.

"No need to thank me." Kaede smiled and after a while of silence the four began talking together, laughing here and there. "So what happened to you three? If you're all from Kohona, why are you all the way out here?" Kaede asked and Orochimaru stopped eating at that, poking at his ramen silently before he sighed. "I'm afraid that's all my fault…" he admitted softly and instantly Jiraiya put his bowl down, slinging his arm around his teammate's shoulder.

Confused golden eyes shot up to look at the white haired genin. "It's not your fault, Orochi, if anything I have equal blame in this if not more." The larger genin stated and the smaller laughed softly at that, sitting up straight. "Thanks." He said gently before he continued eating, his grandmother watched the two of them for a second before she laughed slightly.

"They're not the best at explaining things," Tsunade commented as she set her empty bowl on the table. "We were originally on an escort mission, but we got attacked and split up. Jiraiya and Orochimaru were lost for a while; Sarutobi-sensei and I found them eventually but got split up again. A few weeks passed and then they were found and they got split up. Jiraiya was brought home then the three of us tried finding Orochimaru. While doing that, I was captured too then Jiraiya got badly hurt trying to save us. We just got free and we're making our way back to Kohona."

Kaede gasped slightly at that. "Oh how horrible, you all are okay now though, right?" she asked and Orochimaru shrugged, subconsciously rubbing his leg as though it were hurting him again. "Jiraiya's wounds are still not healed completely, we want to get home as soon as we can so a doctor can take a look." He said and Jiraiya put his hand on the smaller genin's shoulder.

"Your leg, is it bothering you again? It didn't heal fully when you were caught." The white haired genin asked and slowly the snake summoner looked up at his teammate with slightly pained eyes. "A little bit…but it doesn't matter." He mumbled before looking at the window, the sun was gradually climbing up into the sky and he really wanted to get back to the village before sundown. "You broke your leg, my precious grandson? Let me have a look, maybe I can heal it." Kaede said and the snake sighed a little, rubbing the back of his neck slightly before nodding and rolling his pant leg up.

The elderly woman moved over onto the couch the genin were sitting on and sat next to the pale genin. Ever so gently, she lifted Orochimaru's leg onto her lap and carefully felt along his bone, stopping when he flinched and letting her hand rest there. Blue green chakra engulfed her hand and within seconds the pain disappeared.

"I'm afraid the break will just have to heal on its own, but that should help with the pain." His grandmother said, smiling at the snake summoner as he moved his leg off her lap, he looked at her and smiled. "Thank you, it feels much better." He hummed happily and he glanced at Jiraiya when the larger genin chuckled softly "What?" the white haired genin asked innocently and Orochimaru stuck his tongue out at him before looking at Kaede hopefully. "Do you think you could heal Jiraiya some?"

With a friendly smile, she nodded and moved closer to Jiraiya, who took off his shirt after a second and revealed his gauze bound torso. Kaede held her hand up against his chest and after a minute of agonizing suspense, the largest genin literally tore the gauze off his chest. "You're completely healed!" Tsunade gasped and the white haired genin grinned at his teammates, the familiarity making a warm feeling grow in Orochimaru's chest.

"Thank you!" the two male genin said at the same time and all four of them began laughing as Jiraiya put his shirt on again. Eventually Orochimaru started nodding off, struggling to stay awake until his teammate grabbed him by the shoulder gently and tugged him back into leaning against him. The snake bit down a yawn and looked up at the others with apologetic, sleepy eyes. "Don't look at us like that, just rest up."

The snake summoner was tempted before he looked at Kaede, somewhat silently asking permission. The elderly woman smiled and stood up, gently kissing her grandson's forehead before telling them to feel free to rest and leaving the room. Jiraiya pretty much instantly flopped back into a laying position, dragging an all too tired pale genin with him as Tsunade laid down on the other couch.

When they woke it was actually the morning of the next day and Orochimaru sat up quickly, blinking the sleep from his eyes. After convincing his teammates that they needed to go as soon as possible, he wandered around looking for Kaede. "Harumi had a kid? Never would've guessed." A voice said and the pale genin peeked around the corner into the store, Kaede was talking with a rather large looking man.

"She did, and is there something the matter Orochimaru?" the elderly woman looked at the genin and he slid silently into their view, casting a wary glance at the man. "We'll be leaving in a while…I just wanted you to know." He confessed and Kaede walked closer to her grandson, absentmindedly introducing the man as his mother's brother, Kenji. "Are you sure you want to leave, we could take care of you here and even take you to see others in our family. Why don't you stay with us?" she asked and Orochimaru froze at the thought, meet more of his family?

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 ** _Dun dun DUN! What will Orochimaru choose? Will he choose to leave Kohona and his team behind? Or will he give up the chance to meet his family? Find out in the next and final chapter! x3 reviews are love~_**


	15. Going Home

_**Last chapter ;o; hope you enjoy~ also pffffffft I actually was expecting to miss posting the last chapter o3o**_

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' _Meet more of my mother's family?'_

Orochimaru couldn't deny that the idea was very appealing. Especially considering the chances he'd be more welcomed by his family was greater than the chances he'd be welcomed back to Kohona. But…

He had Tsunade, Jiraiya and Sarutobi-sensei that welcomed him more than enough to make up for the village's lack of welcoming. Also his parents had given their lives for the village. However, they'd been expecting the villagers to take up their place in raising him if anything had happened to them.

But they hadn't.

The villagers had done the polar opposite by telling him to run off and die in the forest, some even took to pelting him with stones and shouting threats at him. Then again, his mother had apparently run off with his father and had given birth to him secretly. Her family may see him the same way the villagers do.

The genin found himself utterly conflicted and he wasn't sure what to do for once. Either way there was the possibility of being rejected, but then again either way there was the chance he wouldn't be. If he stayed then he would have to leave Jiraiya and Tsunade as well as the people his parents died trying to protect.

If he went back then he would have to leave behind the chance at ever knowing any one else in his mother's side of the family. Both ways he had to leave something behind, one way he'd lose his only two friends and the other he could keep them. After a few more moments of mental debate with himself, Orochimaru looked up at Kaede and Kenji apologetically.

"My mother and father gave their lives to protect Kohona. It's where I belong. I'm sorry, but I can't stay." He said softly and his grandmother sighed heavily, walking over and giving the snake summoner a hug. "Very well, if you don't want to stay then I won't force you. Though, I would like you to come visit occasionally." She smiled and he nodded, returning the smile before sliding from her arms to go back to his teammates. "I'll bring you three some breakfast, how about that?" his grandmother called and he looked back at her, nodding and thanking her softly before he left the store portion.

When he stepped through the doorway he instantly crashed into someone and expected to meet the floor soon. However he never did and he stole a peek up at who he'd bumped into, Jiraiya looked mildly startled as he held onto the smaller genin by his waist. "Sorry…" his teammate muttered, helping him stand and the snake smoothed his shirt down to seem unaffected, though honestly he was quite startled himself.

"Are you sure you want to come back home? You'd probably be better off with your family." The white haired genin said suddenly and surprised golden eyes met concerned dark orbs. "Pardon?" he squeaked, completely taken aback by the sudden question and thoroughly confused by this point. The other shifted slightly and rubbed the back of his head as he stared off to the side.

"I heard what your grandmother said," he confessed. "You seemed rather…hesitant when you said that you had to come back to Kohona. If you don't want to, then you can stay here where you'll probably be happier…" Orochimaru frowned at that and sighed, biting his lip and shifting his weight to his left side as he rubbed the back of his left arm. "I was tempted to stay…but I don't want to truthfully. My home is in Kohona, my home is wherever you-," he paused then, suddenly realizing something he should've been able to weeks ago. "Wherever you and Tsunade are."

He finished softly before he turned and headed towards the living area was. "Grandmother will bring us breakfast in a little while, come on." He called back to Jiraiya and it didn't take long for him to hear the other follow. He walked into the living area and sat down on the couch, staring at the table for a while before he realized his teammates were trying to get his attention.

"What?" the snake summoner tilted his head to the side and Tsunade looked at him in utter worry. "What's up with you?" she asked as she sat down next to him, gently placing her hand on his shoulder. "Um…" he frowned a bit and stared at his hands for a while.

"Nothing…" the blonde wouldn't take that for an answer, he knew it. "As if, stop trying to lie to me." She huffed and the pale genin sighed, staring off to the side before glancing at her. Honestly he wasn't sure if he should tell her.

And he sure as hell wouldn't if Jiraiya was in the room. Luckily Kaede's appearance with their breakfast saved him from having to answer. "Thank you." He said, dipping his head as he took the food offered to him and he couldn't help but feel happy when he saw that it was eggs.

"Eggs, my favorite," he looked up at his grandmother happily. "Thank you again~." The elderly woman smiled warmly at him and pecked his forehead before telling them to eat and to tell her before they left. Orochimaru was more than happy about the breakfast and also very relieved that the food had spared him from his interrogation.

By the way his teammates were staring at him as they all ate, he knew it wouldn't be long before they started pestering him again. More than a little bit uncomfortable with their surveillance, he made sure to finish eating quickly before getting up in a flash. "You two finish eating…I'll go tell Kaede we're going to be leaving in a few minutes." He said before fleeing the room quickly, sighing heavily when he wasn't in their sights any longer.

Who knew it'd be so awkward to have your friends suspicious about you hiding something. The snake glanced over his shoulder at the room before shaking his head. He'd tell them what was bothering him as vaguely as possible on the way home, then he'd tell Tsunade in detail when they were alone.

Nodding to himself at his plan, he jumped in surprise when suddenly the people of his thoughts were suddenly beside him. "Let's get going." Jiraiya said and the snake summoner hesitated for a second before nodding and leaning the way into the store. "We're going now, Grandmother. Uncle." He said, with ease earning the twos attention, Kaede walked over and quickly gave the pale genin a hug.

"Stay safe you three." She said and they all insisted that they would before leaving. "Take care, Orochimaru." His uncle called just before the door closed and Orochimaru felt slightly bad for deciding to leave. "How much you wanna bet Sarutobi-sensei is going to have us going double time for training to make up for what we've missed?" Jiraiya suddenly said and Tsunade groaned at the thought. "You're going to jinx us, idiot, stop talking about it!"

The white haired genin laughed nervously at that and they all started simply talking to each other. "So…why did you avoid telling us what was wrong, Orochimaru?" Tsunade eventually asked and the snake hesitated before sighing. "I realized something shocking and needed time to think…that is all, no need to worry." He said and his teammates looked at him, clearly not satisfied with his answer.

"There has to be more than that, what did you realize that was so shocking?" Jiraiya asked and the pale genin rubbed his arm in slight nervousness as the larger genin leaned in closer to him. "It truthfully doesn't matter, don't worry about it." He said in a weak voice before yelping in surprise as the three of them were caught in a tight surprising hug. "You guys are okay! I found you! I can't believe I found you!" Sarutobi breathed, pulling back to look at them in relief.

Orochimaru stood still in a stunned daze before he huffed and smoothed his shirt down, the black and purple fabric instantly relieving itself of wrinkles. "Of course we are okay, why would we not be?" he looked up at their sensei with a tilt of his head, his long hair falling in his face as he did. The man laughed and shook his head.

"I don't know. Let's get you three back to Kohona, come along." With that he stood and the genin obediently fell into step behind him as he started walking. Orochimaru flinched as Jiraiya slung his arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer, grinning down at the smaller genin. "We're finally getting you home." He said happily and the snake laughed slightly at that, nodding in agreement.

"We're going home."

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 ** _Aaaaaand the end! :D x3 hoped you guys liked it~ I know I liked writing this fanfic that's for sure XD and this is my first ever finished multi-chapter fic! ;O; I'm kinda proud I actually finished one for once! Anyways~ tell me how you liked it please! ;3 hehehehe~_**


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